Hospice organization releases marketing ethics guidelines

Recently, studies and news reports have focused on the acceleration of for-profit hospices and questioned those facilities’ marketing practices. In response to these questions, and those raised by its members, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), a nonprofit member group, released marketing ethics guidelines for hospice and palliative care organizations yesterday.

[See also: Concerns raised about increase in for-profit hospice care.]

“Our organization has issued an ethical principles document – that something we’ve had for a while – but I think it didn’t necessarily address marketing per se as directly. It seems that’s becoming something that providers are having to educate themselves about,” said Jon Radulovic, NHPCO’s vice president of communications.

The ethics guidelines recommend:

• Systematic review of potential barriers that prevent individuals or groups of people from accessing quality hospice care
• Competition among providers be seen positively and as an incentive to provide higher quality service and increased access to care
• Accurate representation of the capacity and services of their organization in all marketing, outreach and education
• Excellent customer service must be provided within the parameters that constitute clinically appropriate hospice and palliative care services which are compliant with all applicable federal and state regulations
• Clearly stated policies for contracting with and making referrals to other community providers
• Clearly stated policies that support ethical use of these electronic forums (social media tools)
• Ethical and responsible use of patient/family testimonials in media outreach, respecting confidentiality, privacy and the physical and emotional well being of those being served

NHPCO hopes the new guidelines will help providers develop their marketing and business strategies within the values of hospice and open dialogue between providers working within the same communities.

“If you’re going to be successful now, you probably do have to have an understanding of marketing and outreach and business development,” said Radulovic. “Just because you’re doing marketing and business development doesn’t mean you’re doing anything illegal, but it’s also important to recognize that what you, as a hospice provider, should be doing is really for the benefit of patients. That’s what should be guiding choices and decisions."