California Clinicians and Payers Collaborate to Standardize Palliative Care and See Promising Results: Payers and providers in California, six years ago, decided to determine “basic, minimal standards” for home-based palliative care (HBPC). The Coalition for Compassionate Care of California (CCCC) lead the group in doing just that! Working in partnership with Blue Shield of California, […]
AUTHORS EXAMINE THE WORK OF PALLIATIVE CARE IN NURSING HOMES “Palliative and End-of-Life Needs of People Receiving Care in Nursing Homes: Answering the Call” appears in the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. The article is written by Mary Ersek, Phd, RN, FPCN, and Betty Ferrell, Phd, FAAM, FPCN. About 25% of Medicare beneficiaries die […]
Federal News and Information Public Health Emergency and Medicaid Resources to Support State Efforts When the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) continuous enrollment condition end, states must return to normal eligibility and enrollment operations. States will have up to 12 months to initiate a full renewal for […]
Federal News and Information Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Hospice providers need to be aware that the IRS has announced an increase in the optional standard mileage rate for the final 6 months of 2022. Taxpayers may use the optional standard mileage rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business and certain […]
Article of the Week: “The Loss of a ‘Good’ Death” An article in Medpage Today explores how COVID has changed both dying and grieving processes, and warns of long-lasting repercussions. With over a million deaths from COVID, says author Rebecca Morse, PhD, MA, “We are just now starting to see and feel the true cumulative […]
Federal News and Information: Office of Inspector General (OIG) The OIG published the Spring 2022 Semiannual Report to Congress. Areas addressed were: Trends that indicated Medicare could be paying twice for items and services provided to beneficiaries in hospice care – Hospice beneficiaries should receive all their medical care needs through the Medicare hospice benefit. […]
New Mexico Register Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham renewed and extended the State of Public Health Emergency through May 30, 2022. To review the order, go to: https://www.srca.nm.gov/nmac/nmregister/pdf/xxxiii10.pdf. Texas Register Permanent Vaccine Rule for HCSSA’s: The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) adopts an amendment to §558.303, concerning Standards for Possession of Sterile Water […]
MOVING TOWARD A BETTER CONCEPTUALIZATION OF “GRIEVING BEFORE A LOVED ONE DIES” “Grieving Before a Loved One Dies: A Real, but Overlooked Syndrome,” an article in Medscape, proposes a more precise way to define this pre-death grief. The article shares about a study of this grief that was originally shared in Palliative Medicine. The study […]
Federal News and Information Palmetto Medicare Documentation Signature Timeliness Medicare providers must comply with documentation requirements, including the timeliness of documentation in connection with the provider signature. Unless the documentation for a service is completed; including signature; a provider cannot submit the service to Medicare. Medicare states if the service was not documented, then it […]
BLACK LEADERS CONSIDER RACIAL DISPARITIES IN END-OF-LIFE CARE AND ADVANCE CARE PLANNING Two African American leaders in end-of-life care, Dr. D. Dennis Cross, MD, and Dr. Gloria Thomas Anderson, PhD, LMSW, have been the focus of recent media. While millions of persons and families choose hospice care, many fewer people of color make the same […]
CMS SAYS MEDICARE CARE CHOICES MODEL IS REACHING ITS GOALS In 2016, CMS initiated the Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM) program. The program was conceived to help understand what happens if eligible patients are allowed to receive “support services without forgoing payment for treatment of their terminal conditions.” The program seeks to learn if this […]
Federal News and Information Palmetto Billing Hospice Physician, Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Services (Related to Terminal Diagnosis) Job Aid The Billing Hospice Physician, Nurse Practitioner (NP) and Physician Assistant (PA) Services job aid assists hospices, physicians, NPs and PAs in how to properly bill these services. It was developed in collaboration between HHH MACs […]
THE VALUE OF ADVANCE DIRECTIVES CONTINUES TO BE DELIBERATED BY EXPERTS A blog on SevenPonds explores the continuing conversation about the possibility that we are getting end-of-life planning wrong. The blog, while not having new information, does a review of the various expert understandings about advance care planning. The blog notes, among others, a 2021 […]
TEXAS REGISTER Be sure your social workers are aware of the proposed rules. CEU requirements will be changing. TITLE 22. EXAMINING BOARDS PART 34. TEXAS STATE BOARD OF SOCIAL WORKER EXAMINERS CHAPTER 781. SOCIAL WORKER LICENSURE SUBCHAPTER C. APPLICATION AND LICENSING 2 2 TAC §781.501–The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council proposes new §781.501, relating to Requirements for […]
THE DIFFICULTIES OF HOSPICE DISCHARGES In “Graduating From Hospice Calls for a Continuum of Care,” in Next Avenue, Jennifer Lagemann, caregiver and home health administrator, explores the challenges patients faced when they are discharged from hospice. Lagemann also offers suggestions of addressing these challenges. Hospice patients who “survive, says Lagemann, ” must face what they […]
TITLE 26. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESPART 1. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION HHSC is adopting the following two rules: CHAPTER 551.INTERMEDIATE CARE FACILITIES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH AN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY OR RELATED CONDITIONS SUBCHAPTER C. STANDARDS FOR LICENSURE 26 TAC §551.46-The purpose of the new rule is to describe requirements for ICF/IID Provider Response to COVID-19. CHAPTER […]
USA TODAY ARTICLE ASKS: ARE AMERICAN’S VIEW OF DYING FINALLY CHANGING? USA Today published an article that explores if American’s views of dying are changing. Though we have long been reticent to talk about death, says the article, there seems to be a change now in how we deal with death. The article explores why […]
Texas Register TITLE 26. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESPART 1. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES CHAPTER 558. LICENSING STANDARDS FOR HOME AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES AGENCIES SUBCHAPTER I. RESPONSE TO COVID-19 AND PANDEMIC-LEVEL COMMUNICABLE DISEASE 26 TAC §558.960 –HHSC is adopting an emergency rule to define criteria for screening staff, clients, and household members for COVID-19, to require […]
AVOIDING TALKING ABOUT DEATH IS HURTING THE ENVIRONMENT It is no secret that Americans often prefer to not think or talk about death and dying. An article in The Week magazine, titled “Americans are bad at talking about death, and it’s hurting the environment,” explores how this reticence is hurting the earth. As the U.S. […]
Federal News and Information Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Eligible Individuals Can Receive Second COVID-19 Booster Shot at No Cost Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will pay for a second COVID-19 booster shot of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines without cost sharing as it continues […]