Poster Paper: Does Cash Flow Matter? Organizational Impacts On Hospice Longevity

Friday, November 8, 2013
West End Ballroom A (Washington Marriott)

*Names in bold indicate Presenter

Robert J. Eger, Naval Postgraduate School and Maximiliano Mendieta, University of Michigan
Using the theoretical framework of health outcomes research, financial liquidity of the organization is evaluated as to its impacts on the length of stay of dying patients.  Data are extracted from Guidestar’s form 990 databases and merged with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs’ Hospice Demographic and Outcomes Measures database.  A regression model was designed based on the axioms of the Financial Management Theory of the Non-profit Firm in an effort to capture the relationship between financial viability and the number of days a patient survives in hospice care.  The model focuses on the organizational effects while controlling for person group effects, based on the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), on length of stay.  This study has significant implications within the context of financial management and health outcomes theories, as outcomes support the hypotheses that the liquidity of the hospice organization and investment in human capital in the form of nurses influence how long a patient stays in hospice care.  The assessment of the organization’s financial effects on health is a cutting edge development leading to advancing a theory of non-profit financial management in hospice care.  The outcomes of the study have theoretical as well as practical applications to be considered when choosing a hospice organization for our dying relatives.