Delaware Hospice to move to scattered bed model at Saint Francis in Jan.

The new hospice model at Saint Francis will kick off after the new year.

Just two months after celebrating its 100-year anniversary, Wilmington’s Saint Francis Hospital is making a logistical shift for its hospice patients.

This week, Delaware Hospice announced it will shift its Saint Francis-based operations from a centralized In-Patient Unit (IPU) to a scattered bed model. 

The move is to increase both patient and hospital flexibility as well as create more financial and operational efficiency. 

A scattered bed model involves distributing General Inpatient (GIP) Hospice Care across various rooms within the hospital rather than maintaining a centralized unit. 

Closing the IPU means Delaware Hospice continues to live its mission of providing compassionate, expert care without the costs of maintaining a centralized unit. 

New hospice admissions

The “Delaware Hospice at Saint Francis” unit will accept admissions up to Saturday, Dec. 28, and will officially transition on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. 

The inpatient hospice center in Milford – the Delaware Hospice Center – will remain open and completely unaffected.

Delaware Hospice uses this approach in other hospitals across the state (and at Saint Francis before opening the 6th floor IPU).  

An arrangement is made with the hospital that any hospital bed can be converted into a hospice scatter bed. This takes place when a patient, or their family, elects hospice benefits but the patient has needs that are unable to be met at home or the patient is too unstable to transport back home or to the Milford IPU.  

In addition to Delaware Hospice’s staff, hospital staff provide care to patients while receiving hospice care. The group coordinates with hospital staff to provide patient care as outlined in the Hospice Plan of Care. There is a contractual arrangement that covers the cost of providing this service. 

“Saint Francis Hospital patients requiring hospice services will continue to receive compassionate, skilled end-of-life care from Delaware Hospice’s clinical team and support staff,” said Jeff Winslow, a spokesperson for the hospital.

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Saint Francis President Marlow Levy said the collaboration with Delaware Hospice has always been rooted in a shared commitment to high-quality patient care. 

“Transitioning to a scattered bed model allows us to continue this specialized service delivery, ensuring that we remain responsive to the evolving needs of our community,” he said. “This move ensures personalized and accessible care, maintaining the strong relationship between our organizations.”

Delaware Hospice claims this decision is driven by a combination of factors, encompassing both internal strategic priorities and external market dynamics. 

This includes evolving community needs, a decline in General Inpatient Care (GIP) admissions in the unit, and strategic changes within Saint Francis Hospital that have impacted in-house referrals.

Jarek Rutz

Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.