This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Summary Transcript Summary Medical communication is tough, although fundamentally at its most basic unit of delivery, it includes really only three steps. First, a clinician’s thoughts must be encoded into words, then transmitted often via sounds, and finally decoded back to thoughts by a patient or family member. Simple, right? Not so much, as each one of these steps is fraught with miscommunication.
A growing number of patients with various dementia-related conditions will need end-of-life care in coming years. Hospices preparing for rising demand are facing compliance challenges, as these patients often require longer hospice stays. Patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurological degenerative disorders have health trajectories that are difficult to project, especially as they approach the end of life, according to Dr.
Guest Contributor – Bev Foster I have always had a strong sense that music is my close companion along the journey of life. Music continues to accompany me through various life passages giving me a deeper sense of connection and belonging, rekindling old bonds and forming new ones. Music’s ability to connect people whether it’s […] The post Relationship Completion and the Power of a Song appeared first on Life and Death Matters.
With the help of two professional actors, kids and teens at Camp BraveHeart tapped into the power of theater to navigate grief. The post How a theater workshop helps kids and teens navigate grief appeared first on HopeHealth.
Healthcare communication has evolved from handwritten notes and paper charts to digital tools like EHRs, telemedicine, and AI-powered platforms. This blog explores how these advancements improve patient outcomes, streamline care delivery, and enhance provider collaboration. Learn about the role of mobile health (mHealth) apps, secure messaging, and social media in bridging communication gaps.
A sign of caregiver stress is not being able to escape the worries. Worries flow through our caregiver river, creating unexpected waterfalls and intense rapids that sweep us away. Caregiving worries keep us up at night, disrupt our day, and wreak havoc with our well-being. The 12th Sustainable Caregiving Strategy that supports caregiver self-care is … Caregiver Self-Care: How to Release Worries and Stress Less Read More » The post Caregiver Self-Care: How to Release Worries and Stress Less
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will allow hospice patients to receive concurrent care through the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in, and will permit health plans to further restrict utilization of out-of-network providers. Originally slated to complete in 2024, CMS recently extended the carve-in, formally known as the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID).
Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) recently re-introduced legislation designed to expand the palliative care workforce. The two lawmakers, along with others, also brought forth a second bill designed to ensure that hospice patients who need blood transfusions can receive them. The bipartisan-supported Provider Training in Palliative Care Act aims to increase the number of clinicians trained in palliative care as long-standing labor shortages continue to hinder access.
Sign up to get articles personalized to your interests!
Home Care & Hospice Network brings together the best content for professionals in the home care and hospice care industries from the widest variety of thought leaders.
Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) recently re-introduced legislation designed to expand the palliative care workforce. The two lawmakers, along with others, also brought forth a second bill designed to ensure that hospice patients who need blood transfusions can receive them. The bipartisan-supported Provider Training in Palliative Care Act aims to increase the number of clinicians trained in palliative care as long-standing labor shortages continue to hinder access.
Patient data protection and telehealth compliance are key pieces for hospices to bear in mind when navigating technology partnerships in a post-pandemic regulatory landscape. Hospices are facing regulatory concerns since the COVID-19 public health emergency ended (PHE) on May 11 that have centered around telehealth. Some telehealth flexibilities temporarily instituted during the PHE will linger until the end of 2024, while others have already ended.
Despite years of scrutiny over the duration of hospice care, new data show that longer stays reduce health care costs in the last year of life by as much as 11%. All told, hospice care — regardless of length of stay — saves Medicare approximately $3.5 billion for patients in their last year of life, a 3.1% reduction. But those with stays of six months or more yielded the highest percentage of savings.
The families of patients who received care from nonprofit hospices give their providers higher marks on quality than those who went with for-profits, a RAND Corp. study has found. RAND researchers analyzed Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey data from 653,208 caregivers whose family members received care from 3,107 hospices between April 2017 and March 2019.
Given the critical role of family caregivers in home-based care, hospices have a vested interest in expanding their access to support. Families caring for seriously ill loved ones face systemic barriers that could threaten patients’ ability to receive care at home, including at the end of life. If a family can’t withstand these burdens, the patient may have to receive care in a facility to ensure their needs are met.
Let's discuss the trusty pager—an old favorite that’s losing its shine in hospitals and clinics. While once a staple in hospitals and clinics, pagers now present significant limitations that hinder rather than facilitate communication among healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals are constantly on the move, and they need communication tools that can keep up with their fast-paced lives.
Allowing patients to receive concurrent hospice and curative care reduces health care costs and improves quality. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its fifth and final report on the Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM), which studied the effects of allowing individuals to receive hospice care without foregoing other treatments.
Hospice and palliative care providers can benefit from understanding federal and state laws around the use of psychedelics by serious and terminally ill patients. Current regulations govern not only access to these substances, but the research into how patients could be affected. But any rules should include clear federal standards for this research as far as what is and is not allowed, according to Jennifer Moore Ballentine, CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California.
A majority of people in the United States know the types of end-of-life care they wish to receive, but only 22% have documented their wishes. Significant variations in advance care planning utilization also exist among racial and ethnic groups. About 25% of those who have documented their wishes are white. African Americans represented 22%, Hispanics 21% and Asians 7%.
Many seniors have experienced some form of trauma or abuse in their lifetime, which can carry impacts for those both delivering and receiving hospice care. More data has become available in recent years around the prevalence and different types of abuse and trauma on global and national scales. This is the first of a two-part series that will examine the challenges that hospice patients and employees face related to abuse and trauma experiences and how providers respond.
Want to learn how to retain your caregivers & improve caregiver retention X3? The home care industry is experiencing turnover rates of over 80%. How are you ensuring your agency is retaining caregivers? This FREE eBook from Smartcare Software is packed with industry secrets needed to keep your caregivers happy, engaged, and retained, unlocking the full potential of your agency.
Three important considerations can help hospices recruit and retain social workers — a respectful workplace culture, reasonable workloads and continuing education opportunities. Workforce shortages remain the industry’s most damaging headwind, and that includes social workers. During the pandemic, those professionals have left the health care field in record numbers.
Summary Transcript Summary Often podcasts meet clinical reality. That’s why we do this podcast- to address real world issues in palliative care, geriatrics, and bioethics. But rarely does the podcast and clinical reality meet in the same day. Within hours of recording this podcast, I joined a family meeting of an older patient who had multiple medical problems including cancer, and a slow but inexorable decline in function, weight, and cognition.
The palliative care space is at an inflection point at which unprecedented awareness and demand are fueling growth that could be hampered by limited reimbursement and staffing shortages. Palliative Care News spoke with a group of industry leaders about the most impactful forces that will shape the space in the coming year. Some of the common themes include the growth potential of these services, the need to adapt to changing payment models and the persistence of headwinds like the workforce issu
Program integrity issues that have heated up in the hospice space during the past five years reached a boiling point in 2023. Hospice providers have seen an array of increased regulatory oversight in 2023. That momentum has been fueled by two main concerns among regulators — risks of patient safety and evidence of malfeasance in the space. Hospice News sat down with providers, advocacy groups, legal experts and other stakeholders to uncover the most significant hospice regulatory trends from thi
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is transforming healthcare by enabling providers to track patient health outside traditional clinical settings. This blog explores the role of technology in RPM, including wearable devices, mobile apps, and connected medical tools that collect and share real-time data. Discover how RPM expands care access, improves outcomes, enhances patient engagement, and reduces costs by shifting from reactive to proactive care.
A rising number of hospices have undergone name changes in recent years, prompting many to consider the elements of an effective rebranding strategy. As hospices nationwide develop new services to engage patients further upstream, some are rebranding to reflect their expanded scope and to avoid the word “hospice” in their company names, hoping to ameliorate patients’ anxiety about end-of-life care.
Summary Transcript Summary In the early 1990’s, California Medical Facility (CMF) created one of the nation’s first licensed hospice units inside a prison. This 17-bed unit serves inmates from all over the state who are approaching the end of their lives. A few are let out early on compassionate release. Many are there until they die. Today’s podcast is part one of a two-part podcast where we spend a day at CMF, a medium security prison located about halfway between San Francisco and Sacram
More providers are investing in virtual reality (VR) programs as a growing body of research shows that it can ease pain symptoms and improve outcomes for palliative care patients. Virtual reality technology can reduce the use of high-cost pain therapy services and medications, according to Dr. Joseph Shega, executive vice president and chief medical officer of VITAS Healthcare, a subsidiary of Chemed Corp (NYSE: CHE).
When deployed at scale, palliative care can help achieve many of the health care systems current goals, including reduced costs, improved patient satisfaction and quality of life. Despite this potential, existing programs hit barriers created by misconceptions about palliative care among referring physicians, as well as health equity concerns, among others, according to an analysts of four payment model demonstrations carried out by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation.
Download our 30-minute webinar where we delve into real-life examples of HIPAA violations and preventative measures every organization should know! You will learn: The critical factors that lead to HIPAA violations and how to identify them. Three compelling real-life cases of organizations that faced severe HIPAA penalties. Proven strategies to safeguard YOUR organization against HIPAA violations.
Hospice providers are growing increasingly concerned about how state laws related to transgender rights may impede access to their services among LGBTQ+ communities. A rash of states have recently passed legislation to ban the delivery of gender-affirming health care, including Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, among others. What’s happening in these states has caused mounting concern around access to quality hospice care for LGBTQ+ individuals, according to Kimberly Acquaviva, social w
Summary Transcript Summary Communicating about a serious illness is hard. Last week’s podcast we talked about the challenge around miscommunication in serious illness. This week we dive into the challenges with communication when it comes to life sustaining treatments and CPR. Take for example the simple question: “If her breathing gets any worse, she will need to be intubated.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized its 2024 home health rule, including the implementation of a hospice Special Focus Program (SFP). The rule also finalizes the proposed “36-month”rule for hospice providers. The requirement mirrors a regulation that has existed for several years for home health agencies. The final rule forbids any change in majority ownership during the 36 months after initial Medicare enrollment, including acquisitions, stock transactions
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is extending the value-based insurance design demonstration for calendar years 2025 to 2030, including the hospice component. The hospice component of VBID, also called the MA carve-in, launched in 2021 and was originally slated to complete after four years. Each year, elements of the program have gone through planned changes, and that will continue through the extension.
Explore essential topics in this ebook, including what constitutes PHI and how to identify it using 18 indicators. Gain insights into the importance of safeguarding PHI to protect patient privacy and learn about the severe consequences of HIPAA violations. Discover practical strategies for securely exchanging PHI within your healthcare organization, including assessing risks and implementing effective safeguards.
People living with a neurological illness often face a long and painful road. Many neurological illnesses, such as dementia, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, are progressive illnesses that come with a number of additional symptoms, from pain to depression. In recent years, more neurologists are realizing the need for specialized palliative care for this population.
The four largest hospice industry organizations are urging congressional lawmakers to mandate changes to the Special Focus Program (SFP) currently set to begin in 2024. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week issued its 2024 home health payment rule , which contained several hospice provisions. Among them was the Jan. 1 implementation date for the SFP.
Hospices competing for sparse staffing resources are increasingly recognizing the retention value of including grief care support in their benefits packages. Having bereavement services built into employee benefits packages has a two-pronged impact on hospice worker retention and recruitment, according to Betterleave CEO Cara McCarty Abbott. Employees that have access to grief support services are more likely to remain at a hospice organization for longer periods of time, as well as refer their
Texas-based Choice Health at Home LLC has inked a deal to acquire Lumicare Hospice, growing its presence in two current markets while establishing services in a new state. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lumicare Hospice has locations in Texas and Arizona, two states in Choice’s existing service region. The hospice also has operations in Colorado – a new state in Choice’s geographic pipeline.
Explore the risks posed by non-compliant consumer apps like Instagram and WhatsApp in healthcare settings. Learn about potential HIPAA penalties and use a self-evaluation flowchart to determine your organization's need for HIPAA-compliant messaging. Discover straightforward steps to implement secure communication solutions efficiently, ensuring compliance and protecting patient data effectively.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 5,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
361 
Let's personalize your content