The administrative role in hospice planning and organization

When hospices are in the formative stages (e.g., the talking stage or the first-team-meeting stage), concern usually is centered on service issues and quality of care to be provided. Health professionals and community leaders may be inclined to overlook needs for professional administrative direction from the earliest stages in hospice development. Skilled care and compassionate ideals are not enough to insure the growth and stability of community hospice programs. Research shows that problems and pitfalls that cause hospices to close can be avoided through skillful administrative planning, structuring, and marketing techniques applied from the talking stage on in hospice development. This article addresses the specific advantages to new hospices of incorporating administrative resource people in the planning and organization phases of their programs. An annotated bibliography summarizes hospice administrative resources and research.