Alive Hospice Earns CMS 5-Star Rating for Patient & Family Experience

NASHVILLE, Tennessee—Alive Hospice has earned a 5-star Family Caregiver Survey Rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the highest rating available.

The rating is based on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospice Survey, which CMS administers to family caregivers following a patient’s death. Responses address communication with the care team, help with pain and symptoms, emotional and spiritual support and how well families were prepared to care for their loved one. CMS publicly reports the rating for hospices with at least 75 completed surveys and updates it twice each year.

“This rating comes directly from the families we served, which is what makes it meaningful,” said Amir Hamad, CEO of Alive. “It reflects the work of our nurses, aides, social workers, chaplains and volunteers who are with these families in the hardest moments of their lives.”

“Good hospice care is largely about anticipating problems before they become crises: getting ahead of pain, explaining what to expect, making sure a family isn’t guessing,” said Sylvia Jones, vice president of quality and compliance at Alive. “Five stars means the families we serve told CMS directly that our teams are doing that reliably across a lot of homes and facilities located in all 12 counties we serve.”

Founded in 1975, Alive Hospice serves patients and families across 12 Middle Tennessee counties, providing hospice care, palliative care and grief support in homes, nursing facilities and at its inpatient locations.