For-profit hospices may be cherry-picking the least costly, most lucrative patients, potentially putting the nonprofit industry at a financial disadvantage, a study suggests. The researchers found hospice care provided by for-profit agencies averaged 20 days versus 16 days for nonprofit agencies. Care lasting more than one year was most common among for-profit hospice patients. Also, compared with nonprofits, for-profits had about twice as many patients with dementia and fewer cancer patients. End-of-life cancer care is typically much more intensive and costly than dementia care.
