By Peter Whoriskey and Dan Keating, Washington Post, Dec. 26, 2013

Hospice patients are expected to die: The treatment focuses on providing comfort to the terminally ill, not finding a cure. To enroll a patient, two doctors certify a life expectancy of six months or less.

But over the past decade, the number of “hospice survivors” in the United States has risen dramatically, in part because hospice companies earn more by recruiting patients who aren’t actually dying, a Washington Post investigation has found. Healthier patients are more profitable because they require fewer visits and stay enrolled longer.

The proportion of patients who were discharged alive from hospice care rose about 50 percent between 2002 and 2012, according to a Post analysis [....]

Consider the difference between the nonprofit and for-profit hospices: While the average nonprofit serves a patient for 69 days, the average for-profit hospice serves a patient for an average of 102 days, according to MedPAC.

Moreover, multiple allegations have arisen from former hospice workers who say that the businesses took in people who weren’t in declining health. Four of the 10 largest hospice companies in the United States, including Asera­Care, have been sued by whistleblowers alleging that patients were receiving care they didn’t need. The Justice Department has joined several of these lawsuits, including the one against Asera­Care and Vitas, the nation’s largest hospice provider [....]

Also see accompanying interactive set of graphics:

Healthy growth in hospice profits
By Peter Whoriskey, Dan Keating and Tobey, Washington Post, Dec. 26, 2013

California provides a portrait of how hospice profits have grown. Since 2002, annual net profits have grown by more than tenfold after adjusting for inflation — from $25 million to $265 million, according to a Washington Post analysis of state filings [....]