Hospice Salaries Increase But Most Remain Lower Than in Home Health Care

Salaries for hospice employees increased slightly in 2018 but in most job categories were lower compared to similar positions in home health care agencies, according to a new report.

Those findings come from a Hospice Salary and Benefits Report released in November. It’s published annually by Oakland, New Jersey-based Hospital and Healthcare Compensation Service in cooperation with the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), an industry advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

The report is based on responses from more than 693 hospices and hospice programs across the United States and covers more than 34,390 jobs.

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In 2018, hospice jobs in all areas saw an average base pay increase of more than 2.5%.

From August 2017 to July 2018, nationally, RNs saw the biggest average base pay increase at 2.75%. Meanwhile, managers’ average base pay jumped 2.71%, while non-exempt workers, social workers and aides saw an average increase of 2.65%, 2.66% and 2.67%, respectively.

Meanwhile, therapists saw the lowest base pay increase at 2.55% on average.

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Hospice vs. home health care

Still, in most roles, salaried hospice employees earn less on average in 2018 than their equals in home health care. When comparing average salary by job title, home health care came out on top in 18 of 24 categories listed, or about 75% of the time.

For example, executive directors and CEOs in hospice made $184,599 annually, while those in home health made $196,796. Meanwhile, top level marketing executives in home health care made $104,269 per year on average to hospice’s $92,687.

Similarly, for hourly workers, 14 out of 25 listed job titles, or 56%, saw higher average earnings in home health rather than hospice.

Some examples include nurse practitioners, who made a national hourly average of $51.74 in home health care compared $47.94 hospice, and CNAs, who made $14.03 in home health care compared to $13.91 in hospice.

However, for both salaried and hourly workers, hospice employees did out-earn their home health counterparts on average in some categories, such as COO, admission RN, discharge planner and others.

Turnover rates

In addition to salaries, the Hospice Salary and Benefits Report also detailed turnover, which varied largely by job category.

Aides saw the highest turnover in 2018, at 24.44%, while RNs and non-exempt workers saw national turnover rates of 21.59% and 21.87%, respectively.

Meanwhile, top level hospice executives saw the lowest turnover at 9.92%.

Nationally, across all hospice employees, annual turnover was 19.58%.

Written by Bailey Bryant

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