Gao Calls On CMS To Strengthen “Reporting Requirements To Better Protect” Those Receiving Hospice Care GAO publicly released a “Fast Facts” report on 1/11, calling for CMS to improve hospice reporting, making the requirements more like those for nursing homes. “This includes reporting all abuse and neglect allegations immediately – even those involving unaffiliated perpetrators.” […]
Survey Examines Views of Aging and End-of-Live Care In late November, Patient Engagement HIT published “Most Patients Wary of End-of-Life Care, Senior Healthcare Experience.” The article reports on a September survey from the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). NPHI has posted outcomes from the survey. The report, “Views and Experiences of Aging […]
Medpac Holds December Meetings and Makes Recommendations for Changes to Hospice On December 8, MedPAC staff member Kim Neuman offered a presentation titled, “Assessing payment adequacy and updating payments: Hospice services.” Neuman examined “beneficiaries’ access to hospice care, quality of care, hospices’ access to capital, and the relationship between Medicare’s payments and hospices’ costs. […]
Hospices React to Article Calling Hospices “A For-Profit Hustle” “Endgame: How Hospice Became a For-Profit Hustle” is a Propublica article that also appears in New Yorker. It was published online on 11/28, and in the December 5 issue of New Yorker. The piece examines hospices that exploit the hospice benefit and patients in order to […]
Article Reviews the State of Using Psychedelics at End of Life Management of pain and unwanted symptoms is sometimes very difficult as life nears the end. Over two dozen states, as well as the US House of Representatives are considering legislative action to allow access to psychedelics to treat, among other things, end-of-life patients. The […]
Researcher Addresses Equitability in End-of-Life Care for African Americans For four months before her death, Annie Mae Bullock’s family watched her receive healthcare that was “rocky at best.” In the final three days, when Bullock received hospice, her care was excellent, says her daughter Karen Bullock. Those final days were spent at home “surrounded by […]
FEATURED ARTICLE Forbes Articles Explore Medically Assisted Death Forbes published a 2-part series that examines many aspects of medically assisted dying. Part one says the medically assisted dying is “hotly debated” in a number of countries, and offers several updates on the status of medical aid in dying (MAID) in some of these countries. Boomers, […]
Salt Lake City’s, INN Between, Helps Homeless People Come to Die with Dignity Los Angeles Times reports on the work of the Salt Lake City’s Inn Between. The organization’s mission is “‘to end the tragic history of vulnerable peopled dying on the streets.’” The article shares a number of stories about persons who have lived […]
American Journal of Nursing Article says, “Hospice Has a Diversity Problem” An article in American Journal of Nursing explores the continuing disparities in hospice care. The article reviews various studies that support this claim, and then offers thoughts and hopes for future improvement. The article begins by bluntly noting, “The typical patient census in hospice […]
One Physician Shares about “What People See & Hear Before they Die” While death is a universally-shared human experience, it is mysterious and “largely out of our control.” In a 2016 survey by Chapman University, nineteen percent of Americans feel fear and anxiety about death. And 38.1% fear the death of their loved ones. Dr. […]
Stanford Medicine News Center offers “How a bereaved mom is helping researchers improve palliative care.” That mother is Jamila Hassan, whose son Omar was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 2. Omar died shortly before turning ten in 2012. Hassan leaned on the support of others she met at the Bass Center for Childhood […]
Can We Choose When we Die? Eve Glicksman, writing for Washington Post, explores the stories of dying people who hold on to life “until a loved one reaches the bedside or leaves the room,” and then die. This is an experience that is not uncommon. This raises the question of whether we have some control […]
Feature Story “Britain Ponders How to Discuss Death” The Washington Post reflects on the death of Queen Elizabeth and how Britons deal with grief and death. Britons, as they mourn the loss of their monarch, are “feeling a complex soup of emotions” says the article. Some people are calling bereavement counselors. And some find grief […]
Rocky Mountain PBS Explores the Colorado Death Industry On September 8, Rocky Mountain PBS aired “Colorado Voices: Dealing with Death,” exploring “the death care industry in Colorado.” The episode explores various after-life scenarios and examines why talking of death is so taboo. Though there are numerous beliefs and ideas about what happens when life ends, […]
CHAP Working to Bring Age-Friendly Health Systems Into Home-Based Care CHAP has received a part of a $2.3 million grant from The John A. Harford Foundation. The work of the grant is “to bring the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement to home- based care.” This “age-friendly framework is a patient-centered focus.” The program focuses on 4Ms–what […]
AAHPM Releases Implementation Guide for Palliative Care Measurement Policy Led by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, with subrecipients the RAND Corporation and the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care, the guidebook “Palliative Care Quality Measures” has been finalized. The work, which serves as an implementation guide for two specific quality measures […]
HOSPICE NOTES CMS issued “Hospice: CMS Flexibilities to Fight COVID-19,” a document that reviews the various flexibilities that have been available to hospice providers during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). The document reminds providers how requirements will change when the PHE is over. Some items, such as the need for “continuing certain blanket waivers […]
The Texas and New Mexico Hospice Organization (TNMHO) was contacted by our members expressing concern over the amount of time it takes to get Medicaid hospice contracts processed and the lack of communication from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). Many of you have been waiting up to three years for your contract! […]
PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS HOLD A GROWING OWNERSHIP OF HOSPICES Kaiser Health news published “Hospices Have Become Big Business for Private Equity Firms, Raising Concerns About End-of-Life Care.” The article explores the overall growth of for-profit hospices in general, and the growth of private firms owning hospices in particular. According to the article, “Many hospice veterans […]
Teaching Rationally Sensitive Care Includes End-of-Life Care Learning about death is “an expected part of medical school training,” but students may not be “learning as much about dying.” Given the significant disparities in how patients experience illness, “how can we ensure that the care we provide does not also lead to difference in how our […]