The Johns Hopkins Hospital is partnering with Gilchrist to provide inpatient level hospice services to patients in the hospital setting who otherwise may not have access to hospice care, either due to very short prognosis or capacity limitations at the inpatient hospice facility. Mobile hospice, also referred to as a scatter-bed model of hospice, is intended to bring hospice care to the bedside where the patient is. In most cases, the patient will stay in their same bed while undergoing an Epic admission change to Hospice Services under Gilchrist in the background. The care is then managed by the Gilchrist Hospice team with the Hopkins bedside care team staying the same.
This program, led by Michelle Churchill, director of clinical programs for Palliative Medicine, not only benefits patients by providing expertise end-of-life care but also families who will continue to be supported by Gilchrist bereavement services for 13 months after the patient dies. This program is currently live on six units in the Department of Medicine with strategic expansion phases to the rest of the DOM and the neurosciences over the next six months.
