When families in West Virginia face the hardest season of a loved one’s life, they deserve care that meets them with dignity, skill and compassion wherever they call home. And luckily, here in the Mountain state, that’s not just a hope. It’s a measurable reality, and it’s no accident.
Medicare’s Care Compare data has repeatedly ranked West Virginia among the best-performing states in the nation for hospice quality, based on patient care and family satisfaction scores drawn directly from the families who experienced the care first-hand. West Virgina hospices reliably out-perform other states, with our approach to patient care and family satisfaction consistently ranking among the top in the nation in CMS’s Hospice Compare data.
That kind of consistency matters more than ever. Across the country, we’re seeing troubling headlines about hospice fraud, malpractice, and the proliferation of unscrupulous operators chasing profit over care in states where deregulation has made it easier for those focused on volume rather than quality to enter the market. California, which repealed its certificate-of-need (CON) law, now leads the nation in serious complaints and inspection concerns about hospice care.
West Virginia has taken a different path. Our CON law, in place since 1977, requires new hospice providers to demonstrate a need for the proposed service before they can open. It’s not red tape for its own sake. It’s a safeguard. Roughly 93% of hospice patients here are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, with fixed reimbursement rates, so opening the market wider wouldn’t lower costs. It could instead spread limited staff and resources across more providers, even though the number of patients needing hospice care remains the same, putting particular pressure on rural counties where staff and volunteers are already stretched thin.
CON keeps our hospice agencies and in-patient facilities stable enough to do what hospice is supposed to do: meet people where they are, literally. Whether that’s a farm outside Pocahontas County or a home in downtown Charleston, every West Virginian deserves the chance to spend their final days surrounded by what’s familiar, with a care team that shows up.
For families who need more support than home allows, in-patient hospice facilities offer another kind of comfort. These purpose-built retreats, whether just a handful of beds, or larger facility, provide round-the-clock nursing, counseling and spiritual care in settings built for peace, comfort, and dignity. Sanctuaries like these all but disappear without the CON.
For more than 45 years, hospices have served the Mountain State. We’re proud of what our data shows, but prouder still of what it means: families who trusted us with the most important days of their lives, and received the care they deserved.
Jessica Hall is the Executive Director of the Hospice Council of West Virginia.
