Children’s Hospice International

Children's Hospice International (CHI), a non-profit organization, promote hospice support through pediatric care facilities, encourage the inclusion of children in existing and developing hospice, palliative, and home care programs. CHI aslo includes the hospice perspectives in all areas of pediatric care, education, and the public arena. CHI provides education, training and technical assistance to those who care for children with life-threatening conditions and their families.

Situation

According to the Institute of Medicine’s issued report; When Children Die (2003), millions of U.S. children with both chronic and life threatening conditions, as well as their families, are failing to receive adequate medical and emotional care. The IOM’s report goes further stating: children, who receive palliative care upon diagnosis, will benefit greatly throughout their struggle against disease. Integrated palliative care at the time of diagnosis will also benefit the mental and emotional aspects of the family members and friends of the patient. Under most hospice systems, a parent cannot receive palliative or comfort care for their child unless they make the decision of placing their child into their state’s hospice program, thereby forgoing all hope for their child’s recovery. This forced decision is unfair – and even cruel – for any parent to have to make. In many cases, children cannot even receive certain care because their state’s medical structure is too rigid and unable to understand the difference between adult hospice care and appropriate care young children.

Solution

Children’s Hospice International has developed a program known as CHI PACC (Children’s Hospice International Program for All-inclusive Care for Children and Their Families). CHI PACC was structured in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is designed to allow children to receive comfort care at home, while they are also receiving the critical therapy for their chronic or life threatening condition. To go further than just medical needs, CHI PACC also provides the child’s family a circle of support, ensuring that the family does not fall apart with the excessive burdens related to their child’s illness. The intended result is for a greater circle of care and support to be built around the family. While the best physicians are doing all they can to both treat and comfort the child, this comprehensive approach provides more compassionate care which address the psychological, emotional and practical needs of the child patient, and their families, as well. (Case studies have shown that this approach also creates a significant cost savings because it addresses the core problems at the onset of the diagnosis, rather than during crisis points.) States are able to access Medicaid dollars to pay for CHI PACC programs through a federal waiver granted by HHS’ Center for Medicaid and Medicare. Florida received the first CHI PACC waiver in June 2005; Colorado, Utah and Virginia are anticipated to receive CHI PACC waivers in 2006. It is the hope that private insurance and TRICARE will follow Medicaid’s example, and ultimately CHI PACC will be available, and reimbursable, to children and families nationwide.

Better Health & Lower Cost

Since the development of the CHI PACC model, states have seen dramatic improvements in both the quality and cost of comfort care. The patients and their families have received the needed resources in their own home, as compared to the high costs and stresses of the emergency room. This efficiency has been estimated by the state of Colorado to save $22,000 per child per year; other states such as Utah estimate similar cost-savings. In Colorado alone, it is anticipated that 4,000 children will be served through CHI PACC as soon as their waiver is approved in 2006. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recognized CHI as a leader in its field and helped write and implement the CHI PACC model. Under this revolutionary model, families receive better care for their loved one and the taxpayer receives greater efficiency from their tax dollars and government. Children’s Hospice International is a non-profit organization that has made a dramatic impact in both the cost and, more importantly, the care a child and family receives at the time they need it most.