Literature Review

Over 140 cars take part in 19th Lube-a-Thon for Hospice Portage.Life; by Center for Hospice Care; 9/10/24 Friday July 26 marked the 19th time Tom's Car Care Canter hosted its Lube-a-Thon for Hospice. From 7am until almost 6pm cars were lined up out to the street to get their oil changed for just a $45 donation to Center for Hospice Care. Even with the line, wait times weren't that long. The Tom's team was moving cars out on an average of five to six minutes each! Along with the oil change, patrons received a ticket for a free car wash (good until the end of October), a coupon for a free muffin or cookie and a cup of coffee or fountain drink as well as an event t-shirt. ... Thanks to all of the participants, sponsors and other donations, the 19th Lube-a-Thon for Hospice raised over $10,000 to help Center for Hospice Care improve the quality of living for those in our nine-county service area.

2024 NHPCO Facts and Figures Report now available National Alliance for Care at Home, Alexandria, VA and Washington, DC; Press Release; 9/10/242022 Data Show First Increase in Hospice Utilization Rates Since COVIDThe National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) published the 2024 edition of National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) Facts and Figures, an annual report on key data points related to the delivery of hospice care, including information on patient characteristics, location and level of care, Medicare hospice spending, and hospice providers. Facts and Figures – the leading resource for hospice providers and others interested in understanding the work of the community – has been published annually for over two decades by NHPCO. ... The findings in this report reflect patients who received care in Calendar Year (CY) 2022, or Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, provided by hospices certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and reimbursed under the Medicare Hospice Benefit. This year COVID-19 continued to impact patient care as COVID-19 waivers were still in place through May 2023. These waivers included increased telehealth services. With 49.1% of all Medicare decedents in 2022 choosing hospice care, utilization of hospice increased in 2022 for the first time since 2019. The increase hints at a normalization of the utilization rates back to pre-COVID data. Hospice utilization rates increased across all race and ethnicity groups, with the largest increase among Hispanic Medicare beneficiaries seeing. The total number of beneficiaries enrolled in hospice care in 2022 was 1.72 million. Due to the unique impact of COVID-19 on 2020 data, those data are not included in many of the charts this year.

Sunday newsletters focus on headlines and top read stories of the last week (in order) - enjoy!

Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was. ~Dag Hammarskjold

Vaccine mandates for health care workers—An effective policy tool for past and future pandemics JAMA Open Network; John B. Lynch, MD, MPH; 8/24COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of infection, severe disease, long COVID, and death. Although COVID-19 vaccines were free and obtainable in 2021 and as early as December 2020 for some health care workers (HCWs), a considerable proportion of people in the US chose not to get vaccinated. Wang and colleagues investigated this challenging and critically important question: do public policies that required health care workers to get vaccinated increase vaccine uptake? ... by the second week after a mandate was implemented, Wang et al found an increase in the proportion of HCWs ever vaccinated or who had completed or intended to complete the primary vaccination series. These results join those of other studies that found an association between vaccine mandates and increased vaccinations in specific populations. Studies like that by Wang et al provide more information that could be used to design mandates and communicate the impact of future mandates, providing much needed and better measures of the perceived tradeoffs of governmental action in preparation for the next pandemic and in the prevention of nonpandemic infectious diseases.

Lay-led intervention for war and refugee trauma-A randomized clinical trialJAMA Network Open; Lori A. Zoellner, PhD; Jacob A. Bentley, PhD; Kawther Musa, MA; Farhiya Mohamed, MSW; Luul B. Ahmed, BA; Kevin M. King, PhD; Norah C. Feeny, PhD; for the Islamic Trauma Healing Clinical Team; 8/24The global refugee crisis disproportionately affects the Muslim world [and] forced displacement often results in trauma-related mental health issues. Effective psychotherapy exists, but there are barriers to uptake by refugee groups as well as a lack of culturally appropriate interventions. In a randomized clinical trial with a US-based sample of 101 refugees, Islamic Trauma Healing showed significant effects on posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and well-being, compared with the control group, with gains maintained through 12-week follow-up. Islamic Trauma Healing was well received by community members, consistent with faith and culture. The findings of this study suggest that this deep-cultural–adapted intervention has the potential to provide an easily trainable and scalable model to reach war and refugee communities unlikely to either have access to or seek Western-based mental health interventions.

Individual-and community-level risk factors of cancer-related financial hardship among cancer survivorsJAMA Network Open; Apoorv Dhir, MD; Kristian Donald Stensland, MD, MS, MPH; Lindsey Allison Herrel, MD, MS; Rishi Robert Sekar, MD, MS; 8/24Cancer survivors face substantial economic hardships during and after oncologic care, compounding the physical and psychosocial implications of a cancer diagnosis and compromising treatment adherence, quality of life, and survival. In this cross-sectional study, approximately 50% of cancer survivors experienced cancer-related financial hardship, with a disproportionate number of survivors who were younger, were Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries, were socioeconomically disadvantaged, and had advanced disease. Although policy efforts to curb the costs of cancer care are essential, acknowledging the role of community and structural barriers and identifying socially vulnerable populations for targeted interventions represent a potential strategy toward mitigating financial hardship and delivering equitable cancer care.

Injurious fall risk differences among older adults with first-line depression treatmentsJAMA Network Open; Grace Hsin-Min Wang, PharmD, MS; Edward Chia-Cheng Lai, PhD; Amie J. Goodin, PhD; Rachel C. Reise, PharmD, MS; Ronald I. Shorr, MD, MS; Wei-Hsuan Lo-Ciganic, PhD, MS, MSPharm; 8/24One-third of older adults in the US have depression, often treated with psychotherapy and antidepressants. In this cohort study of older Medicare beneficiaries with depression, first-line antidepressants were associated with a decreased FRI risk compared with untreated individuals. These findings provide valuable insights into their safety profiles, aiding clinicians in their consideration for treating depression in older adults.

Accuracy of the “surprise question” in predicting long-term mortality among older patients admitted to the Emergency Department: Comparison between emergency physicians and nurses in a multicenter longitudinal studyPalliative Medicine Reports; by Alexandra Coulon, Delphine Bourmorck, Françoise Steenebruggen, Laurent Knoops, Isabelle De Brauwer, on behalf of the COPE Project; 8/24The “surprise question” (SQ) (“Would you be surprised if this patient died in the next 12 months?”) is the most frequently used screening tool in emergency departments (EDs) to identify patients with poor prognosis and potential unmet palliative needs... The SQ is a simple tool to identify older ED patients at high mortality risk. Concordant responses from [emergency physicians and nurses] are more predictive than either alone.

Frailty in Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and Traditional Medicare beneficiariesJAMA Network Open; Sandra M. Shi, MD, MPH; Brianne Olivieri-Mui, PhD, MPH; Chan Mi Park, MD, MPH; Stephanie Sison, MD, MBA; Ellen P. McCarthy, PhD, MPH; Dae H. Kim, MD, ScD; 8/24In this nationally representative cohort study of 7063 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years and older, compared with traditional fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries, Medicare Advantage beneficiaries had higher levels of frailty at baseline but similar levels of frailty change over 1 year. These findings suggest that enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans is not associated with altered frailty trajectories compared with Traditional Medicare, and more work is needed to better understand the health services needs of older adults with frailty.

Mary Lanning hospice agency changes ownership Hastings Tribune, Hastings, NE; by John Huthmacher; 9/11/24 Sanford Health-Good Samaritan Society assumed control of its first hospice agency in Nebraska Sept. 5 after purchasing the agency from Mary Lanning Healthcare. Carrie Edwards, administrator of home- and community-based services, said all 12 of the hospice staff previously employed by the former MLH agency have been retained, including herself, three full-time nurses, two full-time aides, a full-time social worker, full-time business office coordinator, and four part-time or occasional employees. 

Parent company of three area senior living facilities files bankruptcy Springfield Business Journal, Springfield, IL; by Michelle Ownbey; 9/11/24  Three Springfield-area facilities that serve seniors have been listed for sale as part of a recent bankruptcy filing, but representatives from the parent company say no closures or immediate changes are planned. Midwest Christian Villages, Inc., doing business as Christian Horizons, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to restructure. The St. Louis-based nonprofit operates 12 communities with independent living, assisted living and memory care services and also has short-term rehabilitation and long-term health care centers. ... A statement posted on Christian Horizons’ website notes: “A series of events has put significant pressure on the company’s finances” and lists resident and patient volumes sharply declining at the outset of the pandemic, staffing shortages and increased costs to procure goods and services as factors. 

AI scribes show promising results in helping family doctors and nurse practitioners spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork LaGrange Daily News, Toronto, Canada; by PR Newswire / Canada Newswire; 9/11/24 Family doctors report spending 70% to 90% less time on paperwork in a study evaluating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) scribe technology. OntarioMD (OMD), a subsidiary of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), announced this week the findings of the study that examined the use of AI scribes by more than 150 family doctors and nurse practitioners (NPs) over a three-month period. AI scribes capture conversations between family doctors or nurse practitioners (NPs) and their patients and summarizes them into detailed electronic medical notes. The family doctors and NPs assessed AI scribes' effectiveness in reducing their time spent on administrative tasks and the results are very promising. ... The results also support the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health's Patients Before Paperwork (Pb4P) initiative aimed at helping doctors spend more time caring for patients instead of doing unnecessary paperwork.