Named president and CEO in December, Diana Franchitto runs Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island, the largest and oldest hospice in the state. Established more than 30 years ago, the Pawtucket-based nonprofit hospice has approximately 250 employees and 300 volunteers to take care of approximately 2,700 clients each year. It owns and operates the only free-standing hospice inpatient center in the state, the Philip Hulitar Inpatient Center in Providence.
PBN: Let’s talk about your new headquarters.
FRANCHITTO: It’s at 1085 North Main St. in Providence. We purchased the former Summit Medical Center, which I believe was a nursing home, in 2006 out of receivership.
We are doing a full renovation. We are going to move the Philip Hulitar Inpatient Center [now at the Roger Williams Medical Center campus] to this facility and expand its capacity. … We’re planning a move in early June. Along with that move, we are also moving our headquarters, which [is] currently in Pawtucket, because we have a whole team that supports all of the clinicians out in the field. As you know, we care for patients in their homes, in long-term care facilities and nursing homes as well. …
The Pawtucket building [at 169 George St.] is for sale. The new headquarters is now in its final stages of construction. We’re very excited about it. … The rooms [at the Hulitar Center now] are semi-private and in our new facility, they’ll all be private rooms. It’s about a $16 million project.
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PBN: What trends in end-of-life care are you seeing?
FRANCHITTO: As our population ages … we will be seeing growth in hospice care throughout the country. Most of our patients are older, so we will certainly be seeing a growth in hospice over the next 20 years.
PBN: How has hospice care changed in the last 30 years?
FRANCHITTO: The primary diagnosis was cancer, and now only about half of our patients have a cancer diagnosis, and the other half can be anything from heart disease, to dementia and Alzheimer’s, to lung disease and to any of the chronic health conditions. So it’s not just the cancer diagnosis anymore.
PBN: How does Rhode Island rate nationally in caring for the terminally ill?
FRANCHITTO: Not too well, actually. In Rhode Island, we find that patients are referred to hospice too late. What we’re looking to do is to improve access to hospice. The median length of stay is very short in Rhode Island, only 13 days, and nationally it is more than 20 days. … Medicare is our primary [source of reimbursement] – Medicare reimburses us for about 90 percent of our patients. We certainly receive funding from Medicaid and other private health insurers. … [The state’s global Medicaid waiver is not expected to affect operations.]
PBN: What are your goals as president and CEO?
FRANCHITTO: Well, certainly, [moving into] our building. Our new building is going to be a highlight for Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island. It will be a LEED-certified building [renovated in accord with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design national standards]. You know, there’s a certain compatibility with respect for the end of life as well as respect for the environment.
Hospice, just like any other health care organization, is under financial constraints, just as hospitals and long-term care facilities are. So [one of my goals is] managing the organization to be financially sound. The health care economy is a very challenging economy to be in.
PBN: What are your biggest challenges?
FRANCHITTO: Ensuring that our construction project is completed in a timely manner. And just making sure that Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island is well-managed and that we continue to recruit and keep a very qualified and talented staff. And … making sure that our families and patients have access to hospice earlier.
We live in a death-defying, death-denying culture, so hospice is often a last resort, when many times we can be providing support much earlier in the disease process.
PBN: Do you prefer to treat people at home?
FRANCHITTO: Wherever they live. Wherever a patient may live, whether it’s in a nursing home or an assisted living center, we care for patients in group homes or in their own private residence, wherever it is, we’re there.
PBN: People, in general, often seem to praise hospice-care workers and especially appreciate what they do for their loved ones.
FRANCHITTO: I think it’s really a tribute to our staff. Many [on] our staff feel that their work here at hospice is not just a job, it’s truly a calling. The staff here, their work puts them in very intense situations, when a patient is dying and [they become] part of very intense and personal times in the life of a family. Clearly, our staff just brings such support to our patients and families. … We have a very low turnover, only about 4 percent. They are very committed to the work that they do and to this organization.
PBN: How do you all stay happy and not get depressed, when you’re working with people dying all the time?
FRANCHITTO: I think that’s one of the challenges, making sure that we care for our staff in a way that will nurture them. As I mentioned earlier, their love for working with end-of-life patients is very deep and I often say, “it’s in their DNA.” Often, you’ll find a hospice social worker or a hospice nurse or a hospice aide saying they would do nothing but hospice work because it is so important to them. … It’s not for the faint of heart. •INTERVIEW
Diana Franchitto
POSITION: President and CEO of Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island
BACKGROUND: Served as acting president and CEO, and before that was vice president for marketing and philanthropy, since joining the hospice organization in January 2007. Previously worked for the Caritas Christi Health Care System, based in Boston, where she was vice president of marketing at Caritas Norwood Hospital in Norwood, Mass., and interim senior vice president of public affairs.
EDUCATION: B.S. in business administration, 1989, and MBA, with concentration in marketing, 1997, both from Bentley College, Waltham, Mass.
FIRST JOB: When she was 14, she worked at McDonald’s in Walpole, Mass.
RESIDENCE: Foxboro, Mass.
AGE: 49
