Literature Review

Money donated to hospice organization: [$24k+ to Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County] Fox TV 22 and ABC TV 7 - Bangor, ME; by Susan Farley; 4/18/24During [November and December], Subaru of America and Stanley Subaru in Trenton donate a portion of proceeds from every new car sale to charity. Today they gave Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County a check for almost $ 25,000. "We are also growing our service with palliative care . We know that's a very underserved population really with support from volunteers going into the home providing companionship and respite. ... " said Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County Executive Director Kathy Bailargeon.

Help Serenity Hospice workers win their unionSEIU503; 4/18/24Workers at Serenity Hospice have been organizing for pay equity, adequate raises, affordable health care, regular hours, PTO, and the ability to manage trauma and compassion fatigue. The workers unanimously decided to form a union, and asked management to voluntarily recognize them. Serenity’s parent company (Addus Healthcare) already has SEIU-represented employees at its home health agency in Eugene. Instead, Addus hired one of the most expensive union-busing law firms in the country, and has been paying them hundreds of dollars per hour to spread anti-union propaganda. Workers are sticking together and staying strong, and plan to vote YES in their union election next week. Editor's Note: Hospice & Palliative Care Today's posting of this article denotes neither support nor opposition to this action. Rather, we are reporting it for hospice and palliative care leadership awareness. Unions and strikes among healthcare professionals--for these same cited reasons--continue to be a growing trend, nationwide.

Private equity healthcare bankruptcies spiked in 2023, with more expected this year McKnights Senior Living, by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 4/18/24 Private equity healthcare bankruptcies hit a record high last year, with more expected this year, according to nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project. “The healthcare default and bankruptcy wave is projected to continue in 2024 as companies are increasingly facing credit rating downgrades and potential defaults – and most of the companies at the highest risk are owned by private equity firms,” the organization reported. 

Terminally ill pediatric patients and the grieving therapist Psychotherapy.net, by Sara Loftin, LPC-S, RPT-S; 4/18/24 A pediatric clinician shares the rewards and challenges of working with terminally ill children and their families. When asked about the favorite aspect of my (dream) job, I could talk for hours. I feel passionate about working in a pediatric hospital setting with chronically ill children and their families. Each day brings new challenges. ... Experiencing the death of a child is the most painful part of my job, and it will never make sense to me although logically, I know this happens. On the other hand, I feel honored to be a small part of the most vulnerable time in a family’s life, and to walk alongside them in their journey of grief and loss. ... It has been impossible for me to not be deeply impacted working in this arena. [This article includes:]

[Unique Grief Program] Stillwater Hospice offers grief hikesTimes Union Online, Fort Wayne, IN; by Stillwater Hospice; 4/18/24 Time spent in nature has been associated with improved mental health and overall well-being. Walking and movement can be helpful in processing emotions that are a part of the grieving process. Grief hikes are designed to combine these benefits through mindful movement and immersion in nature. The Peggy F. Murphy Community Grief Center in collaboration with ACRES Land Trust will be hosting Grief Hikes on the third Friday every month from May through September. ... Each hike will be held at a different ACRES location, accessible within the Stillwater Hospice service area.

States with the best health outcomes still have deep racial disparities STAT, by Usha Lee McFarling; 4/18/24 A new analysis of health inequities in the United States shows that every state has deep racial and ethnic disparities in the performance of their health care systems. The report released Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund analyzed 25 indicators that track health outcomes, health care access, and quality of care provided for five racial and ethnic groups. It found dramatic disparities for Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Americans, even in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, and New York — the states considered to have the best overall health care performance. In all states, White and Asian residents had the best health outcomes. 

Remote access technologies expose home care firms to cybersecurity vulnerabilities, experts sayMcKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 4/18/24 Some of the most commonly used technologies in home care are also among the easiest for criminals to exploit. ... Remote access systems include any technology that allows users to connect to and access a computer, server or network remotely. Within home care, this could be tools such as remote patient monitoring devices, secure messaging apps, telehealth platforms, cloud-based applications or systems that allow users to remotely access patient data, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And while these technologies bring efficiency, they can also expose providers and their patients to risk.

Hospice handoffs may lower odds of Medicare denials Medscape, by Lara Salahi; 4/29/24Clearer communication between primary care clinicians and hospice providers may decrease the number of denied Medicare approvals for end-of-life treatment, according to a small study presented on April 18 at the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Meeting 2024. Tyler Haussler, MD, acting medical director at  Brookestone Home Health & Hospice in Carney, Nebraska, said he conducted the study. ... CMS requires a "face-to-face encounter" between a physician and hospice caregiver to communicate clinical findings and determine the patient's terminal status. Missing or incomplete documentation of a patient's medical condition remains one of the main reasons the agency denies hospice coverage. 

We are not okay: Moral injury and a world on fireAmerican Journal of Bioethics, by Keisha S. Ray; 4/24Moral injury gives name to a feeling that I have been having lately as I’m asked to show up to work and my life as if there aren’t people who didn’t wake up today because of violence, disease, and greed. I’ve celebrated holidays and my own professional accomplishments, but I can’t escape that lump in my throat, that nagging feeling that this is all meaningless given the state of the world. After all, my principles won’t feed the starving, shelter the bombed, free the captive, or care for the sick. I don’t have the answer. I do not know what we are supposed to do about our perpetual moral injury. I do find some comfort in the origins of moral injury—calling out a broken system rather than broken individuals (Talbot and Dean Citation 2018). I am not broken; I am just a bioethicist and a human forced to work and live within a broken world.

‘Are nursing homes our only option?’ These centers offer older adults an alternative. Rhode Island Current, by Anna Claire Vollers; 4/12/24PACE centers attract bipartisan interest and, in some states, scrutiny. ... PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) centers provide government-funded medical care and social services to people older than 55 whose complex medical needs qualify them for nursing home care, but who can live at home with the right sort of help. ... Nationally, PACE centers are owned by a variety of health care organizations, including nonprofits, for-profit companies, large health care systems and religious organizations. ... [The] explosive growth has come with challenges ...

Hospices and emergency preparedness planning: A scoping review of the literatureJournal of Palliative Care, by Janna E Baker Rogers; 4/24Palliative and end-of-life care, as provided by hospices, are important elements of a healthcare response to disasters. A scoping review of the literature was conducted to examine and synthesize what is currently known about emergency preparedness planning by hospices.

The HAP Foundation conducts research study on Black Americans’ experience with serious illness care in ChicagoThe HAP Foundation, by Rachel French; 4/9/24 The HAP Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago have completed a joint research project to understand the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of Black Americans around serious illness care in Chicago. Through a community-based participatory research design, narratives from Black individuals living in Chicago were captured by focus groups and in-depth interviews. “Community-Based Study: Prioritizing Dignity and Respect in End-of-Life Care for Black Chicagoans” is being distributed widely to health care providers and the community to encourage conversations and create change in behavioral patterns during end-of-life care.Editor's Note: Click here for this downloadable, 17 page booklet.

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