Patients are no longer accepted at El Dorado Hospice House

El Dorado, Arkansas – The John R. Williamson Hospice House will stop taking new patients after May 15, 2023, the SHARE Foundation said on Friday.

Although the Williamson Hospice House was initially intended to have 16 beds, the space has never been used to its full capacity. Eight of its sixteen beds were shuttered in 2018, and it has since only used an eight-bed unit.

The SHARE Foundation reports that utilization of the hospice house has been declining since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Currently, the hospice residence only sees two patients on average per day. Sometimes there is only one patient in the house, or the house must close due to a lack of patients.

According to a press release, Medicare has sought to give more care at home rather than in an institutional environment. Homecare hospices have grown as a result, whereas inpatient hospices have declined.

Life Touch Hospice will move inpatient services from the John R. Williamson Hospice House to hospital settings as a result of the low usage.

Bradley County Medical Center and Magnolia Regional Medical Center are presently partners in Life Touch’s inpatient program.

The SHARE Foundation will come up with ideas for how to make use of the current structure in a way that can benefit the neighborhood.

The hospice program will continue to offer homecare hospice in the five-county service region of Life Touch Hospice.