Literature Review

Alabama agencies get new resources for dementia care amid 'great void' in servicesAlabama Reflector, by Alander Rocha; 1/31/24In a meeting of the Interagency Council for the Prevention of Elder Abuse on Tuesday, Alabama Department of Senior Services (ADSS) Commissioner Jean W. Brown said the department is “awash in money to just go where we’ve never gone before in dementia services and dementia care.” ... According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alabama in 2021 had the second highest mortality rate from Alzheimer’s disease, behind only Mississippi, at 46.8 per 100,000 people. 

Facing the future: Home health providers gear up for 2024’s value-based care, M&A landscapesHome Health Care, by Andrew Donlan; 2/1/24Home-based care providers have faced many headwinds over the past few years. They’ll continue to do so in 2024. But uncertainty has also plagued providers, and there may be less of that this year. Providers know the threat of fee-for-service Medicare cuts. They know Medicare Advantage (MA) penetration is an unstoppable force. They know staffing woes will be a mainstay, even if the labor market nominally improves.

Odds for dementia nearly triple in the year after a strokeHealth Day, by Ernie Mundell; 2/1/24A person's odds for a dementia diagnosis nearly triple in the first year after a stroke, new research shows. This post-stroke spike in dementia risk does subside with time, but it never returns to pre-stroke levels, the same report found. "Our findings reinforce the importance of monitoring people with stroke for cognitive decline," said lead researcher Dr. Raed Joundi. 

How hospices are diversifying their services in 2024Hospice News, by Holly Vossel; 1/31/24Palliative care, pediatric end-of-life care and end-of-life doula (EOLD) services are top of mind for hospices that are diversifying their services in 2024.Fewer than half of 143 respondents to Hospice News’ 2024 Outlook Survey, conducted with Homecare Homebase, reported that their hospice organizations would pursue new care types this year. But the aim of their service diversification efforts may indicate future trends. Service diversification trends in hospice could ramp up as value-based care models incentivize this path, according to Tony Kudner, chief strategy officer of the home-based care consulting company Transcend Strategy Group. 

MD Anderson’s Dr. Eduardo Bruera: Educate hospital execs on palliative care’s outcomes, cost savingsHospice News, by Audrie Martin; 1/22/24Dr. Eduardo Bruera is a true pioneer in the field of palliative care. ... In this interview, Palliative Care News sits down with Bruera to discuss the landscape of palliative care and what he sees for the future of the field.Publisher's note: If there's one article you click on, read in its entirety (2 min), and figure out how to implement in this issue - maybe in this month - perhaps this is it...

A study of how Americans die may improve their end of lifeMedical Xpress, by Rutgers University; 1/24/24A Rutgers Health analysis of millions of Medicare records has laid the groundwork for improving end-of-life care by demonstrating that nearly all older Americans follow one of nine trajectories in their last three years of life.

Evaluation of the Medicare Care Choices Model: Annual / Final reportCMMI Evaluation Digest, 1/25/24The six-year Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM) tested whether offering eligible fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries the option to receive supportive and palliative care services through hospice providers without forgoing payment for the treatment of their terminal conditions (which is required to enroll in the Medicare hospice benefit) improved beneficiaries’ quality of life and care, increased their satisfaction, and reduced Medicare expenditures.

A guide to paying for hospice care at homeMediaFeed.org, by Claire Samuels; 1/23/24 According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which sets benchmarks for hospice care costs based on the payments they make to providers, here’s what two types of in-home hospice care will cost in 2024’s fiscal year ... [Additional descriptions include insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, VA health care, private health insurance.]

Sunday NewslettersTop read stories of the last week (in order) is the focus of Sunday newsletters - enjoy!

A survey of state correctional health care providers on advance care planning: Opportunity for collaboration with correctionsAmerican Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, by Susan O’Conner-Von, PhD, RN-BC, CNE, FNAP; Rebecca Shlafer, PhD, MPH; Paul Galchutt, MPH, MDiv, BCC; Sara Kettering, MPH; Ali Bouterse, BA; Rebecca Freese, MS; and Patricia Berry, PhD, APRN, CNP, FAAN; 1/27/24Prison populations are rapidly aging. Persons in prison age quicker and suffer more chronic illness and disability than their nonincarcerated peers, posing challenges to caring for prisoners who are chronically ill and dying. The goal of our study was to describe state prisons’ practices and policies addressing persons in prison with advanced chronic and life limiting illness through a national web-based survey of state-level prison health care professionals.

Place of care in the last three years of life for Medicare beneficiariesBMC Geriatrics, by Haiqun Lin, Irina B. Grafova, Anum Zafar, Soko Setoguchi, Jason Roy, Fred A. Kobylarz, Ethan A. Halm & Olga F. Jarrín; 1/25/24Most older adults prefer aging in place; however, patients with advanced illness often need institutional care. Understanding place of care trajectory patterns may inform patient-centered care planning and health policy decisions. The purpose of this study was to characterize place of care trajectories during the last three years of life.

Specialist palliative care use and end-of-life care in patients with metastatic cancerJournal of Pain and Symptom Management, by May Hua MD, MS; Ling Guo MS; Caleb Ing MD, MS; Deven Lackraj MPH; Shuang Wang PhD; R. Sean Morrison MD; 1/24/24For patients with advanced cancer, high intensity treatment at the end of life is measured as a reflection of the quality of care. Use of specialist palliative care has been promoted to improve care quality, but whether its use is associated with decreased treatment intensity on a population-level is unknown. On a population-level, use of specialist palliative care was associated with improved metrics for quality end-of-life care for patients dying with metastatic cancer, underscoring the importance of its integration into cancer care.