NHPCO NewsLine Spring 2018 - 14

NHF Receives Grant
from LGA to Create
"Find a Bereavement
Provider" Tool
Legal & General America has awarded

From FEBS to EGSS

Evaluating Hospice Bereavement Services

a $25,000 grant to the National
Hospice Foundation for the creation of
an online resource to help the public

NHPCO is committed to providing

a) are intended to match the bereaved

hospices with the means to receive

person's need for support, while

find information and community

feedback and compare their

recognizing that not all individuals

support services addressing grief and

performance to national data as a

will have the same needs; and

bereavement.

mechanism for ensuring quality of
care. An important part of that process
is the development of performance
measures that provide useful,
meaningful, and actionable data.
The Family Evaluation of Bereavement
Services (FEBS) survey was developed
by NHPCO in collaboration with the

b) have the goal of assisting the

LGA will work with staff at NHPCO to

bereaved person to manage the

create an online searchable database

impact of loss.

that will offer resources such as

The survey design also takes into
account that hospices offer services
based on their particular preferences
and resources, and that this, in turn,

individual counseling, group support
and workshop activities designed to
help individuals struggling with grief
and loss.

creates wide variation in the number

In addition to the online "find a

and nature of bereavement services

provider" tool, the grant will support a

offered by hospices. The survey

consumer outreach and education

includes questions on a wide range of

initiative. NHPCO believes that

services, many of them optional so that

everyone should have access to

hospices may tailor the EGSS survey to

support whenever faced with serious

reflect the specific services they offer.

loss, grief and bereavement.

of NCHPP bereavement professionals,

Because the quality of a bereavement

Our online database will allow a person

NHPCO revised the survey in 2017 and

program cannot be evaluated based on

to search from any device anywhere

began implementation of the new

where its clients are in the grieving

and locate and contact bereavement

survey in 2018. That revision was

process, the survey does not include an

professionals offering counseling

accompanied by a change in the name

assessment of respondents' progress.

services, group support, special

of the survey to Evaluation of Grief

While grief assessment may be useful

services (activities specific for children

Support Services (EGSS).

for bereavement staff in screening and

and teens or bereaved who have lost a

planning interventions for individual

spouse, a child, etc).

National Council of Hospice and
Palliative Professionals Bereavement
Professionals Section as a means for
hospices to evaluate and improve the
quality of their bereavement services in
2007. With feedback from FEBS users
and guidance from an advisory group

NHPCO continues to provide online
data submission and comparative
reporting of survey results for hospices
to use in their quality assessment and
performance improvement efforts.

clients, individual grief assessment has
little utility in reporting and interpreting
comparative program evaluation data
at the national level. A screening
question has been included, however,

The EGSS survey is designed to

to identify persons who may need

evaluate bereavement services from the

additional follow-up and assistance.

perspective of the recipients of the
services. The survey is based on the
assumptions that bereavement services:

NHPCO is eager for member hospice
programs to implement EGSS during
the first quarter of 2018. For more
information and to access the survey,
visit the EGGSS page at nhpco.org/egss.

14

NHPCO NewsLine | Spring 2018

In 2017, LGA awarded NHF a grant to
create an educational video
highlighting the importance of advance
care planning. The video, "Advance
Care Planning," was released last year.
https://www.lgamerica.com/ https://www.youtu.be/MrtRoZKKyt8 https://www.youtu.be/MrtRoZKKyt8 https://www.nhpco.org/quality-performance-measures/evaluation-grief-support-services-egss
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NHPCO NewsLine Spring 2018
