Cape Cod Healthcare news release:
Cape Cod Healthcare and HopeHealth Wednesday announced they will consolidate hospice and palliative care, and Alzheimer’s and dementia services on Cape Cod and the Islands under the Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) umbrella.
As healthcare has become a more complex and demanding environment, the Cape’s only two non-profit hospice providers are consolidating under a single provider for greater strength and service to this unique patient population. HopeHealth will transition to Cape Cod Healthcare all of its Cape and Martha’s Vineyard outpatient hospice services, and their inpatient McCarthy Care Center in Sandwich.
HopeHealth will continue its operations in Greater Boston, Southeastern MA and Rhode Island.
Going forward, Cape Cod Healthcare will care for all HopeHealth hospice patients on Cape Cod who wish to transfer their care to its comprehensive Visiting Nurse Association of Cape Cod Hospice (VNA Hospice) services. VNA and HopeHealth will be working closely to seamlessly transition patients as needed.
Cape Cod Healthcare has also applied for the appropriate licensing to continue an inpatient hospice facility at the McCarthy Care Center. As part of the transition, the McCarthy Care Center will close temporarily, likely in late January, for extensive renovations and will reopen several months later as part of Cape Cod Healthcare.
The organizations expect to complete the consolidation in mid-January, subject to definitive negotiated agreements and customary regulatory conditions.
“Cape Cod Healthcare, with its extensive network and continuum of care model and resources is uniquely positioned to provide high-quality care to all hospice and palliative care patients, as well as
Alzheimer’s and dementia patients on Cape Cod and beyond,” said President and CEO Michael K. Lauf.
“Patients will see a smooth transition and the same high-quality care they are accustomed to,” he said. “Our VNA Hospice nurses, therapists and support staff work closely with the patient’s physician to ensure that they receive the best and most compassionate medical care available. We look forward to welcoming the HopeHealth patients and their families.”
“We’ve explored opportunities to broaden and enhance our existing relationship with Cape Cod Healthcare for many years,” said Diana Franchitto, President & CEO of HopeHealth. “Through the
Board’s careful stewardship of resources, HopeHealth’s hospice, dementia and Alzheimer services, and the McCarthy Care Center will be strong additions to Cape Cod Healthcare. From this position of strength, the consolidated program will have important resources to strengthen support for individuals with serious illness and end of life services for residents across the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard.”
The comprehensive services will include hospice, support for individuals with serious illness, and dementia and Alzheimer’s care programs built on a shared commitment to a patient-centered, wholistic approach to care.
It is anticipated that most HopeHealth employees will be able to transition to positions at Cape Cod Healthcare. “The talented and committed clinicians, nurses and other HopeHealth employees offer extensive expertise in hospice care and are especially well-suited to help bring this vision to life,” said Franchitto.
Cape Cod Healthcare will establish a “Hope Fund Advisory Committee” which will include individuals who have served on the HopeHealth board to advise on the use and distribution of HopeHealth’s charitable reserve funds. All charitable funds gifted to HopeHealth in the past will continue to be used for the specific purposes for which they were given and will live on in a strengthened end of life continuum of care for residents of the Cape.
“Cape Cod Healthcare is an independent non-profit community health system dedicated to providing superior care to everyone on Cape Cod and the surrounding area, no matter their circumstances or stage of illness,” said Lauf. “Our hospice patients and their families can rely on a high- quality continuity of care that focuses on the patient experience throughout their healthcare journey.”