This is one of the three major categories of cost in Hospice.
Direct Labor - Labor expense that is directly involved with the provision of care such as RNs, LPNs, CNAs, SWs, Chaplains and visiting Physicians. It does NOT include supervisors or managers even if they perform occasional visits. Bereavement, Volunteer, Triage, Admissions and On-Call areas are also considered Direct Labor. The staff of these areas provides direct care. All other labor costs are considered Indirect Labor.
MVI encourages the use of Percentages of Net Patient Revenue (NPR %) rather than Patient-Day costs for Hospice financial measurement. This deviates from traditional Hospice practice.
Patient-Day amounts fall apart when comparing anything relating to salaries and wages, because salaries and wages can vary widely throughout the country. These differences however, are often off-set by reimbursement rates that take these labor factors into account (such as CBSA codes for Medicare.). Thus, the Percentages of Net Patient Revenue would be more similar while Patient-Day amounts would vary greatly.
For more detail on what Percentages of Net Patient Revenue is, and why/how a Hospice would use it rather than Patient-Day costs, click here.