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 […]
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) What’s New for Fiscal Year 2023? CMS issued the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Hospice Payment Rate Update final rule to update Medicare hospice payments, wage index, quality reporting programs, and policies. Areas of interest are: Routine annual rate setting changes resulting in a 3.8% increase in payments for […]
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 […]
Authors Examine Barriers to and Ideas to Improve Access to Palliative Care An article in JCO Oncology Practice is titled, “Is Improving the Penetration Rate of Palliative Care the Right Measure?” The article begins by recognizing that palliative care presence in “oncology care improves outcomes for patients, caregivers, and health systems.” Nevertheless, the sustainability and […]
Paper Calls on Family Physicians to lead EOL Conversations: “Right place, right time: facilitating end-of-life conversations” appears in Journal of Family Practice. The document is a guide that “offers tips and resources to help family practice physicians engage in end-of-life conversations that address patients’ needs and reduce the burden on friends and family. The guide […]
Physician Reflects on “The Trauma and Shock of a Terminal Diagnosis” A post in a Psychology Today blog examines “the emotional trauma” of receiving a terminal diagnosis. Author Daniel Miller, MD, a hospice and palliative care doctor, says there is a “a sense of dread and despondency upon learning of and thus coming closer to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]