Literature Review

3,000+ nurses at 6 Providence facilities to strikeBecker's Hospital Review; by Kelly Gooch; 6/10/24 Members of the Oregon Nurses Association are set to begin a three-day strike June 18 at six Providence facilities, in what the union deems the largest nurses' strike in the state's history. The union represents more than 3,000 nurses at the following facilities, according to an ONA news release:

Personal conflicts, even violence, are not uncommon in long-term care The New York Times; by Paula Span; 6/9/24... In long-term care facilities, residents sometimes yell at or threaten one other, lob insults, invade fellow residents’ personal or living space, rummage through others’ possessions and take them. They can swat or kick or push. Or worse. Eilon Caspi, a gerontologist at the University of Connecticut, has searched news coverage and coroners’ reports and identified 105 resident deaths in long-term care facilities over 30 years that resulted from incidents involving other residents. The actual number is higher, he said, because such deaths don’t always receive news media attention or are not reported in detail to the authorities. “We have this extraordinary paradox: the institutions, nursing homes and assisted livings who care for the most vulnerable members of our society are some of the most violent in our society,” said Karl Pillemer, a Cornell University gerontologist who has studied resident-to-resident conflict for years. [Click on the article's title for more. Might require subscription to access the full article.]

White House enlists Microsoft, Google for rural hospital cyberdefense Becker's Health IT; by Naomi Diaz; 6/10/24 The Biden-Harris administration has secured commitments from Microsoft and Google to offer free and low-cost resources to rural hospitals nationwide to help them boost their cyber defenses. As part of the effort, Microsoft will be extending its nonprofit program to provide grants and up to a 75% discount on security products for independent critical access hospitals and rural emergency hospitals, according to a June 10 news release from the White House. Additionally, larger rural hospitals using eligible Microsoft solutions will also receive the most advanced security suite at no additional cost for one year. ... Meanwhile, Google committed to offering endpoint security advice to rural hospitals and non-profit organizations at no cost, alongside funding support for software migration. 

Addus to buy Gentiva’s personal care assets for $350 million Home Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 6/10/24 Addus HomeCare Corp. is set to acquire Gentiva’s personal care assets for about $350 million.Those assets amount to over 16,000 home care patients per day, in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Addus – which just left the state of New York – will fund the acquisition through its existing revolving credit facility. “We believe this acquisition is a great strategic fit for Addus, and we are excited about the opportunity to expand our personal care market coverage in seven states, including Texas and Missouri, which are new markets for Addus,” Addus CEO Dirk Allison said. ... Addus currently provides home care, home health care and hospice services to over 49,000 consumers through 214 locations spanning 22 states.

Daughter stole $25K using [dying] father's credit, debit cardsLatrobe Bulletin, Latrobe, PA; by Joseph Bell; 6/6/24 A Vandergrift woman is facing multiple felony charges after she racked up over $25,000 in credit and debit card debt using her father’s accounts. According to court records, 44-year-old Kimberly Sue Shaw of Hancock Avenue is accused of using three of her father’s credit and debit cards for unauthorized purchases, in addition to transferring a sum of money from one of his bank accounts to another while he was hospitalized and later under hospice care. The defendant’s father, Dennis Lee Barger of Washington Township, died May 2.Editor's Note: Often, we think of elder abuse as being physical harm. However, it includes much more, and your interdisciplinary team members must be trained to signs, assessments, interventions, and safety (for the patient and self). Definitions are available on the CDC's "About Abuse of Older Persons" webpage. These definitions include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, neglect, and financial abuse.

Hospice patient reunites with music student in Mesa after 40 years Mesa Independent; by Lin Sue Flood; 6/7/24When Hospice of the Valley music therapist Tammy Reiver first met patient Nancy Scullion and her husband Mike, it was clear the visit was going to be special. ... Tammy realized she was sitting face to face with her junior high music teacher. ... Nancy owns several instruments, including a keyboard, guitar and violin. The weekly music therapy sessions motivated Nancy to play one of them again. With her husband’s help, she took out her violin. ... “Finding those old instruments in the back of the closet and playing them allowed Nancy to reconnect to an old version of herself…suddenly, she became energized and vibrant!” Allison said. “Music fills a soul and brings it to life!” ... Tammy will never forget this experience. “This is life coming full circle with those who served, and who we now serve in return. ... I am honored and blessed beyond measure.”

Governor on hand for PACE openingNews-ExpressKy, Pikeville, KY; by Terry L. May; 6/7/24Mountain View PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) was created to help adults 55 years old and older with complex care needs to avoid nursing homes and to receive care and services necessary to help them be safe, comfortable, and healthy while maintaining a more independent lifestyle, Mountain View PACE Medical Director Dr. James Rummel Jr. said. ... “For those of us who have aging parents, we see this cycle of people who are having a hard time living well at home so they tend to do this circle of home to the ER to the hospital to the nursing home for rehab then back home and it keeps repeating.” ... “We are not trying to replace anybody,” Rummel said. “We are trying to augment the system to fill the gaps. We are a niche type of healthcare system.” ... “What a great day in Pikeville and Pike County,” Governor Beshear said. “How we treat our seniors says something about us and our values as a people." 

Higher sepsis mortality in safety-net hospitals linked to fewer post-discharge care options Contagion Live - Infectious Diseases Today; by Kenneth Bender, PharmD, MA; 6/9/24 Purportedly higher sepsis mortality in safety-net hospitals reflects less a difference in acute care than opportunities to discharge to hospice. By extending the measure of sepsis-related mortality from in-hospital events to occurrences within 30 days after the diagnosis, the purported higher mortality rate of sepsis treated in safety-net hospitals decreased to parity with non-safety-net hospitals, in a retrospective national cohort study. The investigators note the particular challenges of safety-net hospitals, which care for a disproportionately high share of low-income and underinsured patients, include fewer resources and narrower operating margins, as well as patient populations with decreased access to preventative care and more complex disease presentations.

Five arrested over 'sham hospices' alleged to bilk Medicare for over $15 million Los Angeles Times; by Emily Alpert Reyes; 6/8/24 Angeles over an alleged scheme to bilk the Medicare program of more than $15 million. The U.S. Department of Justice said three of the San Fernando Valley residents who were arrested — Petros Fichidzhyan, also known as Peter; Juan Carlos Esparza; and Karpis Srapyan, also known as Tony Levy — were accused of running "sham hospice companies" and turning in fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services. ... As part of the alleged scheme, the three defendants misappropriated the identifying information of doctors to claim those physicians had deemed hospice services necessary for patients, federal prosecutors said. They also allegedly used the names and Social Security numbers of Russian and Ukrainian citizens who had left the U.S. to open bank accounts and sign leases, indicating that the "impersonated identities" were the owners of the hospice companies that they in fact controlled, according to the federal indictment. 

Design, creation, and 13-month performance of a novel, web-based activity for education in primary cardiology palliative care Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Jill M Steiner, Caroline L Doherty, Jill A Patton, Jadry Gruen, Sarah Godfrey, John Mulrow, Richard A Josephson, Sarah J Goodlin; 6/5/24 online ahead of print Cardiovascular disease (CVD) clinicians who care for seriously ill patients frequently report that they do not feel confident nor adequately prepared to manage patients' palliative care (PC) needs. With the goal, therefore, of increasing PC knowledge and skills amongst interprofessional clinicians providing CVD care, the ACC's PC Workgroup designed, developed, and implemented a comprehensive PC online educational activity. This paper describes the process and 13-month performance of this free, online activity for clinicians across disciplines and levels of training, "Palliative Care for the Cardiovascular Clinician" (PCCVC).Editor's Note: Reiterating, this "free, online activity [is] for clinicians across disciplines and levels of training." The trajectories for cardiovascular diseases can elicit enormous anxiety--due to their roller-coaster changes that can result in sudden death--in contrast to the more predictable trajectories for cancer. Whether you use this resource or another, educate your interdisciplinary clinical managers and team members to the all-important disease and care factors for cardiology palliative care, relevant to the scope of professionals' different roles. 

Better bereavement and palliative care priorities are needed internationally ONS Voice - Oncology Nursing Society; by Elisa Becze, BA, ELS; 6/7/24 Palliative and bereavement care should be a health policy priority, an international team of public health scientists reported in Lancet Public Health. They called for interprofessional health workers, organizations, and systems to “shift bereavement care from an afterthought to a public health priority.” The authors cited evidence that bereaved individuals are at increased risk for numerous adverse outcomes, including prolonged grief disorder, mood and anxiety disorders, existential distress, decreased work productivity, adverse health behaviors, cancer, heart disease, suicide, and death. They added that the burden is particularly high for vulnerable groups, including those living in communities with limited resources. Healthcare professionals’ barriers to providing bereavement care are similar to those for palliative care, they said, including: