1 min read
What if hospice succeeds at the wrong strategy? Chris Comeaux explores three paths for the future of hospice and palliative care: vertical integration, the payvider model, and world-class specialty care.
In Part One of The Debate: Vertical Integration, Payvider, or World-Class Care—Which Path Forward?, Chris Comeaux confronts a defining question for healthcare leaders: What should our organizations become to best serve patients and families?
With competition intensifying, financial pressures mounting, and workforce demands growing, he introduces three possible paths: build an Vertical Integration continuum of care, participate in financing as a Payvider , or make World-Class Hospice and Palliative Care the central strategy.
Chris sets the stage for an unusual conversation—playing three characters, Paul, Christopher and Comeaux, who represent competing visions for serious illness care. Paul (Vertical Integration), Christopher (Payvider Strategy) and Comeaux (World-Class Care).
Through these competing perspectives, he sets the stage for a thoughtful examination of growth, financial sustainability, patient choice, and mission. For healthcare leaders, nonprofit executives, hospice professionals, and business leaders, this opening installment offers a framework for questioning assumptions before committing to the future.
5 Key Takeaways
- Eight pressures frame the decision: competition, reimbursement, workforce, demographic shifts, regulation, technology, organizational change, and mental health.
- Vertical integration extends the continuum: connecting hospice, palliative care, and home-based primary care for frail older adults.
- The payvider strategy adds financial participation: linking care delivery with financing, accountability, and risk.
- World-class specialty care offers another path: making excellence, trust, outcomes, and mission the foundation of organizational strategy.
- Every strategy deserves scrutiny: the central test is how well it serves patients and families—and under what conditions.
Before choosing your organization’s next move, challenge the assumptions behind it. Share Part One with your leadership team, discuss which path best serves your patients and families, and subscribe so you don’t miss Part Two coming this Friday.
Our Host
Chris Comeaux
MLAS, CPA
President / CEO of Teleios
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