article thumbnail

DHGE-CommonSpirit Health Social Work Fellowship to Include Hospice, Health Equity Training

Hospice News

As the hospice and palliative care workforce dwindles, some stakeholders are hard at work to develop career paths for staff in related disciplines, including social work. The program is designed to support social workers in the early years of working in the field and develop smooth pathways to licensure.

article thumbnail

VA Study Finds 95% Increase in Palliative Care Utilization When Patients Have Access to Social Workers

Hospice News

They found a 95% increase in hospice or palliative utilization among veterans served by VA providers participating in the agency’s Social Work Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). These findings suggest that social workers may increase access to and/or use of palliative care.”.

professionals

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

‘Upgrading’ the Medicare Hospice Benefit

Hospice News

Wladkowski, the Larry and Patty Benz Professor and an associate professor of social work at Bowling Green State University. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should consider is retiring the six-month terminal prognosis requirement and allowing for some concurrent care, Wallace and Wladkowski indicated.

Medicare 290
article thumbnail

Hospices Need a ’Huge Catapult’ to Replenish Workforce

Hospice News

This can result in patients coming to hospice later in the course of their illnesses, according to Lee, who also serves on the board of directors at the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network (SWHPN). A late referral often means that the patient will not receive the full benefits of hospice care.

Hospice 279
article thumbnail

Hospice Case Manager Workloads Correlate With Longer Stays, Profitability

Hospice News

Careful management of hospice care manager workloads correlates with longer lengths of stay. For many patients length of stay is a week or less, which is too short for them to receive the full benefit of hospice care. Length of stay is an important metric from both a clinical and business standpoint.

Hospice 264
article thumbnail

LeadingAge to Congress: Reform Hospice Benefit, Fund Palliative Care

Hospice News

The senior care advocacy organization wrote to Congressional leaders today calling on lawmakers to devote attention to improving the 40-year-old benefit. In addition to concurrent care, LeadingAge urged Congress and the U.S.

article thumbnail

Bereaved Families Face ‘Devastating’ Impacts of Hospice Fraud

Hospice News

The impacts of fraudulent activity in hospice on patients and their families can be devastating,” Kraus told Hospice News. Family caregivers are among those with some of the greatest unmet bereavement needs, according to a study published in the Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care.