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Partners Home Care Acquires HealthCare Dimensions Hospice

New Leader Selected

Waltham, MA. In a move designed to improve services for patients and families facing the unique challenges of a terminal illness, Partners Home Care (PHC) announced that it has acquired HealthCare Dimensions Hospice (HCDH) from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), effective November 1. The hospice has become a subsidiary of Partners Home Care, a non-profit provider of home-based medical care, and has been renamed Partners Hospice.

Partners Home Care is a member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health system founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. As a national leader in palliative care, Partners is committed to providing the highest quality of care to all end-of-life patients. Hospice, a specialized and intensive form of palliative care, will now become an integral part of its continuum of home care and end-of-life services. With this transfer, Partners will be able to augment the level of care that is offered to all hospice patients, including the 40 percent who have non-cancer diagnoses such as congestive heart failure and Alzheimer's disease.

"Expanding access to high quality end-of-life care has been a priority for us," said Marcia Reissig, PHC's president and chief executive officer. "We are pleased to add Partners Hospice to our continuum of services so that we can offer premier and compassionate care for patients and families who are coping with a terminal illness."

HealthCare Dimensions Hospice has provided comprehensive end-of-life services to adults and children with advanced terminal illness in Greater Boston and MetroWest communities for more than 25 years. As a subsidiary of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since 2002, the hospice grew from serving an average of 55 patients a day four years ago to 115 today.

Both Partners and DFCI share a mission to serve end-of-life patients with the highest quality of care possible. "We are pleased by Partners' vision to use this transfer as a foundation to build a solid, non-profit hospice for patients and families," said Janet Porter, DFCI's chief operating officer. "With Partners Home Care's solid infrastructure and reputation for providing leading-edge home health care services, this transfer strengthens the viability of hospice for cancer patients and families in need of end-of-life care in the future."

With more than 20 years of experience in leading and growing hospices across the country, Keith Kertland has been selected as executive director of Partners Hospice and vice president of hospice and palliative care for Partners Home Care. All of the programs that Kertland has managed throughout his career have experienced significant growth, improved outcomes, enhanced patient satisfaction, and increased community support.

"We are grateful that Keith has joined us in this leadership role for the new Partners Hospice organization." said Marcia. "His knowledge, expertise, and compassion will greatly contribute to our mission of providing superior end-of-life care to our patients."

Keith's career in hospice dates back to the early 1980's when he headed the VNA of Burlington, Vermont, which was part of a national hospice demonstration project funded by Medicare to assess the cost-effectiveness of hospice care. As executive director of the Western Division of Home Health for Sutter Health System, a large health care system in Northern California, Keith was responsible for growing the organization's hospice services throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He later served as president and CEO of Home Health and Hospice Programs for Catholic Health Services of Long Island, NY, where he oversaw the merger of three hospices and the integration of hospice within that healthcare system. Most recently, as executive director of Genesis VNA & Hospice in Iowa, Keith was actively involved in the opening of a new hospice house, a residential alternative for patients who are unable to be cared for at home.