Literature Review

California Officially Raises Minimum Wage For Home Health Care WorkersHome Health Care NewsDecember 4, 2023California’s home health workers are set to receive higher pay next year as a result of a minimum wage hike approved by the state legislature. ... The news will be greeted warmly by caregivers in the Golden State. However, experts in the home-based care space have worried before that the wage increase could have adverse effects on providers.

VITAS Expects a Steady 2024 for Revenue, GrowthHospice NewsDecember 4, 2023After the tumultuous years of the pandemic, VITAS Healthcare expects a stable growth trajectory heading into 2024. Florida-based VITAS is a subsidiary of Chemed Corp. Though the company has not yet released financial guidance for 2024, VITAS anticipates a “predictable” 2024 in terms of earnings and growth, executives said at Monday’s Bank of America Healthcare Conference.

How Value-Based Care, Investors Could Impact Palliative Care StaffingPalliative Care NewsDecember 4, 2023Interest in palliative care is rising among job-seeking clinicians, but the influx remains too slow to meet rising demand. ... Though far more resources are needed, more opportunities for clinical palliative care training have been emerging in recent years, according to Dr. Nathan Goldstein, currently professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Nursing home staffing rule finds scant political supportModern HealthcareDecember 4, 2023President Joe Biden’s high-profile plan to improve nursing home quality by setting staffing minimums has attracted intense resistance and lukewarm support, regulatory comments and public statements reveal. The nursing home industry strenuously opposes the policy, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed Sept. 1.

Lessons in CaregivingBy Lisa B. SamalonisNext AvenueDecember 4, 2023... When my parents, in their late 70s, became ill with several chronic and terminal health ailments, my sisters and I worked to support them and honor their wishes to age in their home. ... Like many adult children and family friends new to this process, we were unaware of everything we did not know about the complexity of safely aging in place and the available resources. ... Often, coordination of care is very challenging. ... Being a vocal advocate can help your loved one immensely. ... Yet, taking care of oneself allows one to care for others.[Editor’s Note: The author is a writer and editor based in New Jersey. She writes about health, parenting, books and personal finance.]

Models can predict when older adults with dementia may need nursing home careMcKnight’s Long Term Care NewsDecember 5, 2023It often can be difficult to determine when a person with dementia may need to go to a nursing home or receive that level of care. A new study created models to help people determine when older adults living with dementia will require nursing home-level care. The results can give people and their loved ones evidence-backed data if it comes time to make that decision. The study was published on Dec. 4 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

CAPC Palliative Care Provider DirectoryPress Release, 12/4/23Finding palliative care services should be easy and convenient, not only for patients living with a serious illness, and their families, but also for their medical teams. CAPC’s national Palliative Care Provider Directory provides a quick and easy way for patients, families, and referring clinicians to locate and contact palliative care programs in their area.

NY latest to adopt LGBTQ+ Bill of Rights for long-term care residentsMcKnight’s Senior LivingDecember 4, 2023New York has become the latest state to adopt legislation establishing a bill of rights for LGBTQ+ residents in other long-term care facilities. S 1783A / A 372 prohibits assisted living communities and other long-term care facilities and their staffs from discriminating against residents on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status.

Hospice 36-month rule work-around not worth the risk, financial experts warnMcKnight’s Home Care DailyDecember 4, 2023Though the recently enacted 36-month rule presents another obstacle for hospice transactions, mergers and acquisitions experts encouraged buyers to play by the rules rather than push the boundaries of the new regulation. This so-called 36-month rule, which requires re-enrollment for providers that undergo a change in majority ownership within 36 months of initial Medicare certification, now covers hospice as part of the 2023 home health final rule. It had previously only applied to home health facilities.

Light-a-Life Tree Lighting for Hospice BuffaloWKBW-TV (Buffalo, NY)December 2, 2023Buffalo, NY—Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo hosted its 35th annual Light-a-Life Memorial Tree Lighting Ceremony. This is a longstanding tradition that provides an opportunity to remember loved ones who were cared for by Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo.

It’s OK to Never ‘Get Over’ Your GriefBy Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode, MA, PhDNew York TimesDecember 3, 2023Over the past century, traditional mourning practices have fallen out of favor in the West. Black is now usually worn only to a funeral, and not always then. But traditional mourning practices were designed to do just that: to preserve a place for the dead among the living, to help mourners carry the weight of their grief not by getting over it but by maintaining their relationship with the deceased (as metaphysically suspect as that might sound to modern ears). Today we are encouraged to step out from the shadow loss casts over our lives and return to happiness. ... This approach to grief and mourning might seem to be a good thing, like picking yourself up after a fall. It is arguably less morbid, with its emphasis on “getting closure” and “moving on” in a process whose goal is “healing.” But I fear the benefits do not outweigh the costs. ... [Editor’s Note: The author is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Warsaw and a research fellow at Blackfriars Hall at the University of Oxford. He is the editor of “The Meaning of Mourning: Perspectives on Death, Loss, and Grief.”]

‘Between Life & Death: Terri Schiavo’s Story’ Official TrailerMSNBC.comNovember 22, 2023Sunday, December 3rd, MSNBC Films presents “Between Life & Death,” an NBC News Studios production. The documentary retraces the tragic story of Terri Schiavo from the 1990s and early 2000s, going beyond the headlines of the national debate over her life that reverberates in today’s culture wars. Watch “Between Life & Death: Terri Schiavo’s Story,” Sunday, December 3rd at 10pm ET on MSNBC and streaming on Peacock.[Editor’s Note: To watch the one-minute trailer for this 90-minute documentary, click here. There is no pdf associated with this item.]

Nurse-led geriatric primary care model offers care benefits for seniorsMcKnight’s Long Term Care NewsDecember 4, 2023A new study found that integrating Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training-Primary Care (GITT-PC) can improve primary care for older adults. Essentially, GITT-PC trains healthcare workers to function as a team while integrating geriatric care into primary care settings. It can focus on using nurses instead of doctors. Overall, the model aims to change practices by leveraging Medicare reimbursement billable codes for Annual Wellness Visit (AWV), Chronic Care Management (CCM), Advance Care Planning (ACP) and Dementia services. The study was published Friday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.