Who owns this hospice?

Nonprofit hospices reinvest in care. For-profit hospices answer to owners and investors. You’re allowed to ask.

Nobody chooses a hospice by reading its tax filing. But ownership shapes everything a family will experience, so it belongs on the list.

A nonprofit hospice is governed by a board of community members. It has no owners and no investors. What it receives from Medicare, insurers, and donors goes back into the work: nurses and aides, inpatient care centers, grief support, volunteer programs, and care for families regardless of their ability to pay. A for-profit hospice answers to owners or shareholders, and a portion of every dollar is theirs. That is a legitimate way to run a business. It is also a different set of incentives, and families deserve to know which one they are dealing with.

Not all hospices are created equal. Ask who owns the one you are considering. Ask what it does with a surplus. Ask whether it accepts patients whose care will be complicated or expensive.

Ohio’s Hospice is a nonprofit, built by community hospices across the state that chose to join together and stay nonprofit. Its foundation exists so that the programs Medicare doesn’t fully cover continue anyway. Every dollar stays in the mission and in the communities it serves.

Choose comfort. Choosing well starts with knowing who you are choosing.