Virtual Tough Training – Inpatient Units & the Model – August ’25 – VIDEO

An Inpatient Unit is one of the most consequential investments a Hospice can make. In this 2025 Tough Training, Andrew Reed explains why the success or failure of an IPU is largely determined long before the first patient arrives. Drawing from firsthand experience managing an Inpatient Unit, helping hundreds of Hospices design and build their facilities, and decades of Benchmarking, Andrew walks through the structural decisions that shape Clinical Quality, Family Experience, Staffing, and long-term Economics.

Rather than viewing an IPU as simply a building or clinical department, Andrew presents it as an integrated SYSTEM where design, location, staffing, operations, and Leadership must function as a coherent whole. Throughout the training, he emphasizes that many of the most expensive mistakes are preventable—but only if the right decisions are made before construction begins and the organization commits to operating by The Model.

What the Training Covers

• IPU Design, Location, and Foundational Decisions
  Avoiding irreversible mistakes involving construction, physical layout, capacity, location, bed count, and the unit’s underlying operating assumptions.
• Financial Performance and the IPU Planning Tool
  Calculating the unit’s break-even point, required GIP census, patient mix, occupancy, staffing cost, revenue, and financial “magic number.”
• The Eight Big Moves and Supporting Practices
  Identifying the highest-impact operational changes and using additional practice moves to strengthen performance across the unit.
• Leadership, Culture, and Staffing
  Selecting the right IPU leader, building an accountable culture, managing shifts intelligently, and aligning labor with actual patient need.
• GIP Growth, Documentation, and Referral Confidence
  Improving GIP appropriateness, strengthening documentation, managing admissions, developing referral relationships, and filling beds through genuine Quality.