Literature Review

Fairness in predicting cancer mortality across racial subgroupsJAMA Open Network; Teja Ganta, MD; Arash Kia, MD; Prathamesh Parchure, MSc; Min-heng Wang, MA; Melanie Besculides, DrPH; Madhu Mazumdar, PhD; Cardinale B. Smith, MD; 7/24In this cohort study, a machine learning [ML] model to predict cancer mortality for patients aged 21 years or older diagnosed with cancer ... was developed. ... The lack of significant variation in performance or fairness metrics indicated an absence of racial bias, suggesting that the model fairly identified cancer mortality risk across racial groups. The findings suggest that assessment for racial bias is feasible and should be a routine part of predictive ML model development and continue through the implementation process.

Modeling nursing home harms from COVID-19 staff furlough policiesJAMA Open Network; by Sarah M Bartsch, Colleen Weatherwax, Bruce Leff, Michael R Wasserman, Raveena D Singh, Kavya Velmurugan, Danielle C John, Kevin L Chin, Kelly J O'Shea, Gabrielle M Gussin, Marie F Martinez, Jessie L Heneghan, Sheryl A Scannell, Tej D Shah, Susan S Huang, Bruce Y Lee; 8/24What is the tradeoff between COVID-19–related harms and non–COVID-19–related harms when allowing nursing home staff with mild COVID-19 to work while masked? The findings of this study suggest that allowing nursing home staff who were mildly ill with COVID-19 to work while masked was associated with less harm from alleviated missed tasks, outweighing increasing harm from COVID-19 transmission.

Updated Care Compare for Hospice ReleasedCMS website; 8/28/24Publisher's note: See link above to access updated Care Compare for Hospice publicly reported quality measures.

$83M fraud case against nursing home group may proceed, with no defendants excusedMcKnight's Long-Term Care News; by Jessica R. Towhey; 8/27/24A New York Supreme Court judge threw out all arguments from lawyers for an embattled group of nursing homes that sought to have charges dismissed in a case accusing the owners and operators of $83 million in Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Judge Melissa Crane ruled that the owners of Centers Health Care, along with numerous other individuals, did not make sufficient arguments for dropping charges of fraud, “saddling” nursing homes with “excessive debts,” colluding to pay “sham vendors,” and paying themselves “inflated” salaries.

Executive Personnel Changes - 8/30/24 

This was the year advanced practice nurses thought they’d get full practice authority in NC. They were wrong.NC Health News - NC Board of Nursing; by TwumasiD-Mensah; 8/29/24 Every so often, Megan Conner, a nurse anesthetist in Greenville said she sees a patient who’s driven for hours to come for a screening colonoscopy but who instead has to be sent to the emergency department. ... It frustrates Conner that so many patients, who have to travel sometimes hours for care in eastern North Carolina, end up not getting it because of common ailments they can’t get treated closer to home.That’s why Conner is a big believer in the Safe, Accessible, Value-directed and Excellent Health Care Act (SAVE Act), which would give advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) like her full practice authority. She argues the data show that more nurse practitioners would provide primary care in rural North Carolina if the state would give them autonomy to practice, bringing care to small burgs that often go without. And now, the demands for care are being driven by hundreds of thousands of patients newly eligible for care because of Medicaid expansion. Along with a growing number of lawmakers who believe the legislation is overdue, advanced practice nurses thought this would be the year that the SAVE Act finally passed. They were wrong. [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

Awards and Recognitions: August 2024 We congratulate these honorees and celebrate their contributions to our collective hospice and palliative care mission, vision, and compassionate care throughout our world. Do you know any of these leaders? We encourage you to forward this to them or to find another way to celebrate their success. (We are piloting this as a monthly feature in Hospice & Palliative Care Today.)

Grief Memoir: ‘It was my turn to do everything for her We Are The Mighty; by Jessica Hall; 8/28/24 ... I joined the phone call with the doctor where he told us all the worst news. The cancer was growing everywhere along the spine. ... He told us that it was time for hospice. ... Even though I had been preparing for this for months, I was truly not ready to go from child to caretaker. ... For my entire life, my mom had cared for me. She had been there when I was sick or hurt. She cleaned my house (sometimes to my chagrin). She cooked my favorite meals and she let me take breaks. Now it was my turn to do everything for her. It hit me like a ton of bricks, but I also just knew that I had to do it. We all had to do everything for her to make her final days easy for her. Hospice came by to get everything set up. ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading this beautiful, personal story.]Editor's Note: Calling all hospice executive leaders who do not have clinical, direct patient care experience--read this article to grasp common family dynamics, decisions, actions, emotions, and life-changing moments for each patient you serve. Multiply this out for the many family members of each patient you serve. How do your hospice services tune into and support these family members?

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TCN podcast: Mapping the Future via the Mission with John McBeth Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux, with John McBeth; 8/28/24 In this episode of the Anatomy of Leadership podcast, John McBeth, Former Co-founder and CEO of Next Century Corporation, shares his journey in the technology industry, from software engineer to CEO roles. McBeth emphasizes the importance of creating high-performance organizations and having a great and worthy purpose.  He discusses his experience with Vistage where he met Dr. Lee Thayer and the profound impact of working with Dr. Thayer had on him and his organizations. McBeth also shares the inspirational story of starting Next Century Corporation and their mission to protect the country and save lives through real-time actionable information.  The conversation emphasized the importance of mission and purpose in mapping the future for both individuals and organizations.

Hospice patient publishes first poetry book BBC News, Derby, United Kingdom; by Jude Winter; 8/26/24 A woman receiving end-of-life care has fulfilled an ambition by publishing a book of poems. Sarah Colina started writing the poems more than 40 years ago but never got round to getting her work published despite encouragement from friends and family. The 60-year-old has been receiving care at Ashgate Hospice since being admitted to its Inpatient Unit in Old Brampton, Chesterfield. ... he added staff at the hospice had been "so supportive" and is selling 50 of her books to raise money to support their work. "I’m hoping it will be nicely received and people will enjoy reading my poems", said Ms Colina. She added: "Some of the poems are very dark, but some make you laugh. "I'm hoping it gives people an insight into their inner person." 

Not intervening as a form of care: Negotiating medical practices at the end-of-life AnthroSource, by the American Anthropological Association; by Simon Cohn, Eric Borgstrom, and Annelieke Driessen; 8/27/24 ... The story of Keith, a patient living with multiple sclerosis but now with limited time left, introduces a common feature of biomedicine; once set on a particular trajectory, clinicians are often committed to a cascade of options without really questioning their ultimate value: "When I saw the doctor, the first thing he said was, ‘Oh, we can do this, or we can do that…’ So I said, ‘No, you won't. You won't do any of those things, thank you very much.’ And then when he suggested a drug that will give me ‘an extra few months’, I replied ‘Does that give me an extra few months now, or an extra few months at the end? Because I want the few months now, I don't want them at the end.’" Here, Keith recounts how his doctor seemed compelled to suggest one treatment after another with the intention of prolonging his life, rather than acknowledge that because he was dying, a different approach might be more appropriate. ...

How 3 health systems decide when to buy or build AIModern Healthcare; by Gabriel Perna; 8/27/24As health systems invest in artificial intelligence, executives are deciding when they should buy a vendor's AI product and when they should build their own models... “AI requires more of a data science experience, which is very expensive in the market,” Pupo said. “It also requires a lot of actual data and many hospitals do not have that or are able to afford access to large amounts of data.” Here is how three health systems are weighing their options.