Hospice of the Valley

Project Overview

Hospice of the Valley collaborated with six large Phoenix-area managed care organizations to launch PhoenixCare, a program that brought components of hospice care to patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

PhoenixCare reduced the fragmented nature of care for these patients,  who were often forced to choose between life-prolonging care and hospice or palliative care during times when both are needed. The program offered case management services and improved communication among clinicians in hospitals, hospice and home-based services, and provided three levels of care, offering psychosocial support through the end of life.

PhoenixCare's program included a three-tier approach to care, including supportive care, enhanced care and hospice care — all  funded by patients' existing health plans or Medicare benefits, through in-kind contributions from the managed care organizations or as charitable services provided by Hospice of the Valley.

Patients who were diagnosed with a progressive, incurable illness entered the system on tier one with supportive care. They, along with their families, received education concerning end-of-life decisions and symptom management. Those services expanded to enhanced care in tier two, providing more comprehensive anticipatory guidance and symptom management, as the patient's condition advanced.

Hospice Care was then offered to patients and families as their illness entered a terminal phase and the end of life approached.

Tools

• Initial / Subsequent Clinical Assessment Tool
• Telephone Interview
• Service Components
• Admission Protocols
• Stable Patient / Exacerbation Protocols
• Enrollment Criteria
• Informed Consent Form
• After Death Surrogate Interview
• Coping With Side Effects
• Home Safety Information
• Coping With Symptoms
• Coping With Illness
• Advance Care Planning
• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Coping With Fatigue
• Living With COPD

Resources

• Bibliography (PDF 71 KB / 1 page)
  Download Acrobat Reader
• The Journal of Palliative Medicine (December 2003: Volume 6, No. 6) features an article about this demonstration project titled "The PhoenixCare Program".
• This demonstration project was featured at the 2003 NHPCO 18th Management and Leadership Conference:
• Session 6: Beyond the Benefit: Marketing Hospice Skills to Palliative Care Customers and Payers
• Session 7: Moving Hospice Care Upstream: Expanding Palliative Care

After the Grant

PhoenixCare continued with a five-year Medicare Demonstration Project grant, with a service package similar to PhoenixCare offered to non-managed high-risk Medicare recipients.

Contact Information

Principal Investigator:
Carol A. Lockhart, Ph.D.
Project Director and Special Projects Coordinator
Hospice of the Valley
1510 E. Flower St.
Phoenix, AZ 85014
Phone: 602.345.9445
Fax: 602.287.7051
Email: [email protected]

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Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care was a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dedicated to long-term changes in health care institutions to substantially improve care for dying people and their families.