Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability
Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability

Florida's Certificate of Need Process Ensures Qualified Hospice Programs; Performance Reporting Is Important to Assess Hospice Quality

Report 06-29, March 2006




Report Summary

  • Hospice care is an alternative to the traditional medical model for end-of-life care. Florida's hospice programs provide professional medical services to help patients die peacefully and painlessly. These services are available to any patient who meets certain diagnostic criteria, regardless of ability to pay. In 2004-05, the majority of patients served by Florida hospices were age 65 and older and more than one-third were diagnosed with cancer. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursed 93% of patient care costs, with another 4.5% paid by private health insurance and self-pay patients. The remaining 2.5% of patient care costs was covered by hospice programs as charity care.
  • Florida's method of regulating hospice programs differs from other states in two major ways. Florida is the only state that requires new hospice programs to operate as not-for-profit corporations, and is 1 of 12 states that comprehensively regulates the growth of hospice programs using a Certificate of Need process. Should the Legislature decide to allow new for-profit hospice programs to operate in Florida, it should continue to require that new programs be approved through the Certificate of Need process.


Related Reports
  1. Number of For-Profit Hospices Has Grown; Current Measures and Standards Are Not Sufficient to Assess Hospice Quality
    Report 10-09 January 2010
Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.
Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.
social services, health, human services, hospice, end of life, terminal illness, palliative care, end-of-life care, hospice programs, for-profit hospice, not-for-profit hospice, hospice certificate of need, hospice medicare benefit