By Bill Wertman, CEO, Big Bend Hospice
Choosing hospice care is one of the most personal decisions a family can make.
It often comes at a time when there are more questions than answers, when emotions are high, and when families are being asked to place tremendous trust in people they may have only recently met.
So how does a family know whom to trust?
There is no single measure that can answer that question. But I believe families deserve clear, independent information about the quality of care hospice providers deliver.
That is why I am proud to share that Big Bend Hospice has earned a four-star Quality Rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, placing us among the highest-rated hospice providers in Florida.
CMS reports hospice ratings through Medicare Care Compare using a one-to-five-star scale. A four-star rating represents above-average care and is based on something especially meaningful to me: the experiences of the families and caregivers who have actually received support from our team.
These aren’t opinions about our advertising or our reputation in the community. They come from the CAHPS Hospice Survey, which asks caregivers about what happened when hospice care mattered most.
Did their loved one receive help with pain and symptoms? Did the hospice team communicate clearly? Was someone responsive when the family needed help? Were emotional and spiritual needs supported? Was their loved one treated with dignity and respect?
Those questions get to the heart of what hospice care should be.
For 44 years, Big Bend Hospice has been invited into homes, hospitals, nursing facilities, and hospice houses across North Florida. In each of those settings, families are trusting us with someone they love. They are counting on us not only to bring clinical expertise, but also to listen, respond, explain what is happening, and provide reassurance during an unfamiliar and difficult time. A four-star rating tells us that families are experiencing that commitment.
It also tells me something about our people.
Hospice care is never the work of one person. It takes nurses and physicians managing complex symptoms, certified nursing assistants providing hands-on care, social workers helping families navigate difficult decisions, chaplains offering spiritual support, counselors walking alongside people through grief, volunteers giving their time and presence, and countless team members working behind the scenes to make that care possible.
This rating belongs to all of them.
I am proud of what four stars represent, but I also know that quality is not something we can take for granted.
A rating reflects experiences that have already happened. Our responsibility is to the family who calls us today, the patient we will meet tomorrow, and the communities that will depend on us in the years ahead. We have to earn their trust one visit at a time.
That means answering the phone when a family needs us. It means listening carefully when something does not feel right. It means treating each patient as a person with a lifetime of experiences, relationships, and wishes that deserve to be honored.
And it means continuing to ask ourselves where we can do better.
For families comparing hospice providers, I encourage you to ask questions. Look at independent quality information. Learn about the services available to you. Ask how a hospice will respond when you need help at two in the morning, not just two in the afternoon. Most importantly, choose a team you trust to care for the person you love.
At Big Bend Hospice, four stars are something worth celebrating, but they are not the finish line. They are another reminder of the standard our patients and families deserve and of the promise we have worked for more than four decades to keep: to provide compassionate, expert care while honoring the dignity of every person who places their trust in us.