National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization history

In 1979, the NHO issued its first “Standards of a Hospice Program of Care,” which the NHO board of directors adopted.

Doctor Hampton helped found Hospice of Central Oklahoma in 1980, which evolved as the United States legislature enacted a Medicare hospice benefit and certification process.

Efforts included setting up the National Hospice Education Project in 1981.

In 1982, the NHO joined the Medicare Initiative in an effort to establish federal funding and legislation for hospice care.

1983: President Reagan signs Medicare Hospice Benefit into law, covering care for 80%-85% of hospice beneficiaries.

A permanent Medicare policy came into place in 1985, with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). In addition to making the Medicare hospice benefit permanent, this act gave states the option to include hospice in their own Medicaid programs.

In 1986, the Medicare Hospice Benefit was enacted, and states were given the option to include hospice in their Medicaid programs.

In 1990, Doctor Hampton and other physicians from the Oklahoma County Medical Society launched Hospice of Oklahoma County, a Medicare-certified hospice.

1993: Hospice is included as a nationally guaranteed benefit under President Clinton’s health care reform proposal.

1997: The growing end-of-life movement focuses national attention on quality of life at the end of life, need for increased public awareness and physician education

2005:Dame Cecily Saunders dies from cancer at St Christopher’s at the age of 87.

In 2009, it also began operating an inpatient hospice unit called The INTEGRIS Hospice House, which is the only in-patient hospice provider in Oklahoma.

Furthermore, since the beginning of 2011, Medicare has mandated more frequent doctor visits if a patient remains on hospice beyond six months.

In 2014, 40 years after the opening of Connecticut Hospice, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and its affiliates celebrated four decades of providing hospice care in the US.