The Duke Endowment Invests in Non-profit Advanced Illness Care Model

HENDERSONVILLE, NC – The Teleios Collaborative Network, through its member organization Four Seasons, has received a $900,000 grant from The Duke Endowment to fund its mission to preserve, strengthen, and support not-for-profit community hospice and palliative care organizations in the Carolinas.

Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN) is a not-for-profit organization that shares expert leadership, industry best practices, and resources with its member organizations, allowing community-based, not-for-profit hospice and palliative care agencies to continue their work of providing compassionate care for those facing serious illness or the end of life. TCN was founded in 2017 by Four Seasons and Carolina Caring and co-founded by Caldwell and Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care organizations. TCN is currently comprised of five member organizations and two associate member organizations and serves in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Louisiana.

To advance quality of care in an increasingly changing health care environment, TCN has comprised a network of leaders and best practices that ensures provider organizations can continue to thrive and can employ meaningful and essential practices like research, palliative care, and music therapy, while improving access to care in rural settings and for uninsured patients.

“Not-for-profit hospices have maintained a singular focus in an ever-changing health care climate; the patient.  They have done that by not just giving lip service to serving all of a community, they have actually walked that walk,” said Chris Comeaux, president and chief executive officer for TCN. “The receipt of this grant is indicative of the significant and ongoing need for advanced and serious illness care and is an exciting advancement for our mission and dedication to ensuring that it does. We are grateful to The Duke Endowment for investing in our cause which will ultimately impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients and their families.  At the same time, it will strengthen programs that make up the fabric of communities, both urban and rural.”

Patient-focused care presents unique challenges today, when reimbursement in rural areas has decreased and regulatory requirements have increased. To enable non-profit hospice and palliative care programs to continue to concentrate their resources on care rather than overhead costs, TCN provides these overhead resources and industry leadership at a lesser cost by uniting agencies, sharing, and increasing collaboration, thereby decreasing the burdens on individual agencies as they work to continue alternative therapies and the advancement of care.

“TCN has become a part of our Four Seasons family and we can’t imagine our family without them,” said Millicent Burke-Sinclair, chief executive officer for Four Seasons. “They join with our care team as experts in post-acute care, strategic partners and collaborators in advancing clinical practice, and innovators in furthering access to quality care.”

Four Seasons received the grant due to its strategic position to build and facilitate the infrastructure for TCN, based on its extensive relationships with hospice and palliative care organizations across the nation. A recipient of the Circle of Life Award for quality and innovation in 2009, Four Seasons has also been privileged to receive numerous other prestigious grants that have funded the advancement of care and has extensive experience in carrying out proposed work to ensure the successful implementation of grant funds.

Based in Charlotte and established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is a private foundation that strengthens communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits. Since its founding, it has distributed more than $3.6 billion in grants. The Endowment shares a name with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations.

“This project is designed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of not-for-profit, community-based palliative care organizations, especially in under-resourced markets where there is a significant shortage of providers,” says Lin Hollowell, the Endowment’s Health Care director. “The Endowment is pleased to support the development of this new resource which will improve access to quality care throughout the Carolinas.”

The Duke Endowment funds awarded to Four Seasons and TCN will be utilized for specific and measurable outcomes and the distribution and utilization of funds will be overseen by leaders from TCN, Four Seasons, and Duke University. These outcomes include advancements like increasing access to end-of-life care in the Carolinas through both palliative care and hospice, enhancing the quality of hospice care and family satisfaction, and the strengthening of the not-for-profit hospice and palliative care model through the utilization of technology accelerators.

To learn more about TCN, its mission, its member organizations, and how to access resources, visit www.teleioscn.org.

To learn more about Four Seasons or to gain access to care for yourself or a loved one, visit www.fourseasonscfl.org or call 866-466-9734.

Founded in 1979, Four Seasons currently serves 11 counties across western North Carolina, providing the most trusted care to our communities through the following service lines: Care Navigation, Home Care, Palliative Care, Hospice Care, Bereavement Support and Clinical Research. Four Seasons is a national leader in high quality, person-centered care. Four Seasons is committed to providing an exceptional end-of-life care experience, proven by our consistent rank in the top 10% of service providers in the country for family satisfaction. Our dedication to innovation is also shown by being one in a handful of palliative and hospice organizations nationwide that contribute to clinical research studies and trials. If you or a loved one are living with a serious illness, remember it’s your voice and your choice: call Four Seasons when you are ready. To learn more, please visit www.FourSeasonsCFL.org or call 866.466.9734.

  Our Purpose 

 An organizational model that allows not-for-profit hospices (Members) to leverage best practices, achieve economies of scale and collaborate in ways that better prepare each agency to participate in emerging alternative payment models and advance their charitable missions.