Seamless IDG coordination is essential for quality hospice care, and our contract therapists prioritize collaboration with your entire team. Our therapists actively participate in your interdisciplinary group meetings, typically weekly or bi-weekly, either in person or via teleconference based on your preference and their schedule. During IDG meetings, they provide concise updates on current therapy patients including functional status changes, comfort issues addressed, caregiver training provided, and recommendations for continued or discontinued services. They contribute clinical expertise on mobility, positioning, equipment needs, and safety concerns that inform comprehensive care planning. Communication with hospice RN case managers is ongoing and bidirectional. Therapists report significant patient status changes, coordinate visit timing to avoid patient fatigue from multiple same-day visits, collaborate on symptom management strategies combining nursing and therapy interventions, and provide input on DME and home modification needs. They coordinate with social workers and counselors regarding psychosocial factors affecting patients and families, sharing observations about emotional adjustment, family dynamics, or caregiver stress that might warrant additional support services. Therapists maintain communication with hospice physicians and nurse practitioners, reporting clinically significant changes, providing recommendations on equipment and environmental modifications, and ensuring therapy interventions align with overall medical management and goals of care. They document comprehensively in your system including detailed IDG notes, communication logs showing team coordination, and timely completion of evaluations and visit notes accessible to all disciplines. Our therapists understand they’re supporting a unified team approach to patient care, not functioning independently, and their role is enhancing the comprehensive, holistic care model that defines quality hospice services.

Yes, we structure hospice therapy coverage flexibly based on your organizational needs whether that’s multiple branch locations, defined service territories, or concentrated coverage in specific counties or regions. For multi-site hospice organizations, we can assign dedicated therapists to each branch location ensuring consistent coverage, relationship building with site-specific staff, and local market knowledge. This model works well when branches operate somewhat independently with their own IDG meetings and patient populations. For territorial coverage, we provide therapists for defined geographic areas allowing focused service delivery where your patient census is concentrated. This is particularly valuable for large service areas where travel time between distant patients makes single-therapist coverage inefficient and costly. Territory-based coverage ensures responsive service and manageable drive times. We can also provide surge capacity coverage for specific regions experiencing temporary census increases, seasonal variations, or staffing gaps without disrupting therapy arrangements in other areas. Our therapist network throughout Southwest Florida allows flexible deployment. Some therapists prefer working defined territories they know well, while others accept broader geographic coverage depending on their schedule and preferences. We match therapist location and preferences to your coverage needs. For organizations with fluctuating needs across multiple areas, we can provide pool coverage where therapists flex between territories based on current patient distribution. We’ll work with you to design a coverage model aligned with your organizational structure, patient geography, and budget considerations, whether that’s comprehensive system-wide coverage or targeted support for specific locations or territories.

Hospice therapy requires a fundamentally different clinical mindset and approach than restorative rehabilitation, and all our hospice therapists possess deep understanding of this critical distinction. Hospice therapy focuses on comfort and quality of life rather than functional improvement or recovery. Our therapists understand that goals center on managing pain and discomfort through positioning, gentle movement, and adaptive techniques, maintaining safety and preventing falls as function naturally declines, training caregivers on safe transfers, positioning, and comfort measures, preserving dignity and participation in meaningful activities as long as tolerable, and supporting patients and families through declining abilities and end-of-life transition. Hospice therapists must recognize when therapy becomes burdensome rather than beneficial and recommend discontinuation appropriately. They’re comfortable with declining function and understand that regression is expected and normal in terminal illness. Our therapists communicate compassionately with patients and families about realistic, comfort-focused goals rather than pushing for improvements. They adjust interventions based on patient tolerance and preferences, not standardized protocols. Documentation reflects the comfort-care philosophy with goals like “patient will maintain current sitting tolerance for meals with family” rather than “patient will increase sitting tolerance by 30 minutes.” Our therapists understand Medicare hospice regulations requiring that therapy relate to the terminal diagnosis or comfort care and interventions support quality of life within the hospice philosophy. They know how to justify skilled therapy within hospice context, distinguishing appropriate interventions from aggressive rehab incompatible with end-of-life care. This specialized understanding ensures your hospice maintains regulatory compliance while providing compassionate, appropriate therapy that truly serves terminally ill patients and their families during life’s final chapter.

Our hospice contract therapists maintain rigorous documentation meeting Medicare hospice requirements and supporting your compliance objectives. Documentation practices include comprehensive initial evaluations that establish baseline function, identify comfort and safety needs, justify therapy within hospice philosophy, and clearly relate interventions to terminal diagnosis or symptom management. Treatment notes reflect comfort-focused interventions, document specific techniques used and patient response, address caregiver education provided, and demonstrate skilled therapy appropriately addressing hospice patient needs. IDG participation notes summarize therapy activities, provide functional status updates and recommendations, document coordination with other disciplines, and address continued need or recommend discharge as appropriate. Recertification documentation supports continued therapy services when appropriate, demonstrates ongoing skilled needs or changing conditions, and aligns with hospice philosophy of care. Discharge summaries document services provided throughout episode, outcomes achieved or status at discharge, recommendations for continued comfort measures, and equipment or caregiver education needs. Our therapists understand that hospice therapy is bundled within the per-diem hospice rate rather than billed separately, meaning documentation supports medical necessity for hospice certification and appropriate resource utilization but doesn’t focus on maximizing therapy visits like home health. They document coordination and teamwork reflecting the interdisciplinary model central to hospice. Documentation is completed timely per your policies, typically within 24-48 hours of visits. Therapists use your electronic documentation system following your templates and standards, ensuring consistency with permanently employed therapy staff. They understand surveyor expectations during state surveys or Medicare certification reviews and maintain documentation supporting regulatory compliance. Our quality assurance includes periodic documentation reviews ensuring standards are met and addressing any deficiencies promptly.

Our hospice therapy contracting rates are structured to provide cost-effective coverage while ensuring quality service and fair therapist compensation. Pricing models include per-visit rates typically ranging from $90-140 per visit depending on visit type (evaluation vs. treatment), market rates in your area, and contract volume. Per-diem rates for therapists covering specific days or territories typically range from $400-600 per day depending on expected patient load and drive time. Hourly rates for guaranteed hours or administrative time (IDG meetings) typically range from $50-70 per hour. Contract rates for dedicated coverage commitments over extended periods receive preferential pricing, typically 10-20% below per-visit rates when volume and duration justify discounted pricing. Factors affecting pricing include geographic area and typical drive times between patients, expected patient volume and visit frequency, contract duration and commitment level, whether coverage is regular/ongoing or sporadic/as-needed, and any specialty requirements or certifications needed. We’re transparent about pricing during initial consultation, providing detailed quotes based on your specific needs and expected utilization. Longer commitments and higher volumes qualify for better rates. Most hospices find contract therapy more cost-effective than employing therapists directly when census doesn’t justify full-time positions, especially when factoring in salary, benefits, payroll taxes, continuing education, mileage reimbursement, and overhead costs of permanent employees. Contract therapy provides coverage flexibility scaling with your census fluctuations, eliminates paid time when census is low, and avoids costs associated with turnover and recruitment of permanent staff. We work within your budget parameters to structure arrangements that make financial sense while ensuring access to qualified, experienced hospice therapists.

Establishing hospice therapy contracting services begins with a consultation to understand your organization’s needs and ensure good mutual fit. Contact us at [phone number] to schedule an initial discussion about your hospice’s service area and office locations, current patient census and therapy needs, staffing challenges or gaps requiring coverage, whether you need ongoing coverage or sporadic as-needed services, and anticipated timeline for needing therapy support. We’ll gather information about your IDG meeting schedule and format, electronic documentation system used, specific protocols or preferences for therapy services, and quality standards and patient care philosophy. We’ll explain our service model including how we source and vet hospice-experienced therapists, our approach to IDG coordination and team communication, documentation standards and compliance focus, and flexibility in coverage models (dedicated territories, per-visit, contract positions). We’ll discuss pricing structures for different coverage arrangements and provide transparent cost projections based on your expected utilization. If you want to proceed, we’ll develop a service agreement outlining scope of services and coverage specifics, therapist qualifications and specialized hospice experience, pricing structure with detailed rates, documentation requirements and timelines, IDG participation expectations, and terms for modifying or terminating services. We’ll obtain your credentialing requirements and begin preparing documentation packages for therapists you’ll use. We can often initiate services within 1-2 weeks of agreement execution depending on your credentialing timeline. Throughout the relationship, we maintain open communication, monitor service quality, address concerns promptly, and adjust coverage as your needs evolve. Our goal is becoming a reliable extension of your hospice team, providing consistent, compassionate therapy services that honor your mission and support patients and families during end-of-life care. Contact us today to discuss how we can support your hospice therapy needs.