Literature Review

418 rural hospitals at risk of closure, breakdown by state

United States: Buying or selling a hospice? The 36-month rule prohibiting change of ownership now appliesGreenbergTraurig, by Sonya C. Penley and Christopher E. Gottfried; 2/15/24Effective Jan. 1, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) extended the so-called "36-month rule" to hospices, prohibiting a change in majority ownership of a hospice, as well as the transfer of a Medicare provider agreement and Medicare billing privileges, in the 36 months after Medicare enrollment or a prior change of majority ownership. The 36-month rule previously only applied to home health agencies.

Gentiva engineers unique palliative care payment system via AIM programHospice News, by Jim Parker; 2/12/24Gentiva Health Services has committed to expanding its recently established Advanced Illness Management (AIM) palliative care model in 2024, including its unique approach to reimbursement.

Tier - Palliative Care: A population-based care delivery model to match evolving patient needs to palliative care services for community-based patients with heart failure or cancer [This link goes to the more detailed National Institutes of Health (NIH) description of this clinical trial.]Genomics & Genetics Daily, by a news reporter-staff news editor; 2/14/24Staff editors report on the newly launched clinical trial, NCT06228209, which has the following summary description: "TIER-PC is an adaptive model of delivering palliative care that provides the right level of care to the right patients at the right time. It represents an adaption of the Mount Sinai PALLIATIVE CARE AT HOME (PC@H) program, which delivers home-based palliative care. TIER-PC increases the number and intensity of disciplines added to the patient's care team as their symptoms worsen and function declines."

Advance planning values and end-of-life care among patients on dialysisdocwirenews, by Victoria Socha; 2/12/24... Patients treated with dialysis are also more likely to die in the hospital and less likely to receive hospice care. [Researchers] conducted a survey designed to examine the association between patients’ health care values and engagement in advance care planning and end-of-life care. Analyses of survey responses were reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Care Guide Partners PACE Center secures $500,000 grantThe News-Enterprise; 2/14/24Care Guide Partners, an affiliate of Hosparus Health, recently was awarded a $500,000 lead grant from the Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana. This contribution supports the launch of the Care Guide Partners PACE Center, at 109 Buffalo Creek Drive in Elizabethtown. Scheduled to open next quarter, the PACE Center will increase accessibility to comprehensive health care services for seniors in and around the region, a news release from the organization said.

Understanding the discordance about prognosis between clinicians and terminally ill patients and their surrogatesThe ASCO Post, by Jo Cavallo; 2/14/24A Conversation with Douglas B. White, MD, MASResearch shows that about half of adults near the end of life in the United States are too ill to participate in decisions about whether to accept life-prolonging treatment, requiring family members and other proxies to serve as surrogate decision-makers for their critically ill loved ones. However, research also shows that surrogates of patients with advanced illness often have optimistic expectations about prognosis, which often lead to the increased use of invasive treatment (including life support) in dying patients and delays in the integration of palliative care.

Scandal exposes flaws in Iowa elderly care system: Stricter hiring protocols neededBNN, by Mahnoor Jehangir; 2/12/24[Two recent] cases ... reveal the urgent need for stricter hiring protocols in Iowa's elderly care system. ... In 2023, an Iowa nursing home and a hospice program found themselves in the crosshairs of a scandal that exposed the vulnerabilities of the elderly care system. The facilities ... had unwittingly hired individuals with troubling histories. [One] had a criminal record for felony theft of $25,00 or more; [the other] was listed on Nebraska's registry of abusers of the elderly.

What the 4-day workweek looks like in healthcareBecker's Hospital Review, by Kelly Gooch; 2/7/24When it comes to a four-day workweek, the arguments for and against such an approach are varied, and its use depends on the industry and role. However, one thing is clear: There is data pointing to a growing trend.

The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. – Ida B. Wells

NJ's 'medical aid-in-dying' law upheld by state Supreme Court Public News Service, by Roz Brown; 2/13/24After a five-year court battle, New Jersey's medical aid-in-dying law has been affirmed by the state's Supreme Court, which rejected an attempt to overturn the statute. Signed by the governor in 2019, the law was soon challenged by a physician based on religious, personal and constitutional grounds. It allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to get a prescription they can use to end their lives.

Kansas hospital to transition to rural emergency hospital Becker's Hospital CFO Report, by Maeline Ashley; 2/12/24La Crosse, KS-based Rush County Memorial Hospital has decided to transition to a rural emergency hospital due to ongoing rural healthcare challenges like reimbursement changes, cost increases, governmental change, and a local population decrease.