Literature Review

BetterRX and Hospice Dynamix announce strategic partnership to reduce pharmacy costs for hospice agencies NBC News Channel 8, Salt Lake City, UT; by EIN Presswire; 5/31/24 BetterRX, a leading hospice pharmacy services and technology provider, and Hospice Dynamix, a revolutionary time-on-service predictive analytics platform, today announced a strategic integration partnership. This collaboration will leverage Hospice Dynamix's proprietary Predicted Length of Stay (PLOS) technology to enhance BetterRX's proprietary medication ordering and management platform, enabling hospice providers to make ordering decisions based on the individual patient, creating immediate savings for the hospice.

Tech solutions for better patient care: How modern tools are transforming hospice management NerdBot; by Nerd Voices; 5/30/24 Hospice care, fundamentally centered on providing comfort and support to terminally ill patients, has traditionally been a deeply personal and human-centric field. However, as technology advances, it is clear that modern tools can significantly enhance the quality of care. Integrating technology into hospice revenue management allows caregivers to streamline operations, reduce errors, and focus more on delivering compassionate care.

What AccentCare’s clinicians wanted from the company’s AI implementationHome Health Care News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 5/23/24Like many others, AccentCare has embraced artificial intelligence. However, the company wasn’t satisfied with implementing generative AI and looping in its clinicians afterwards. Instead, the company made its nurses a part of this process from the start. “It’s our philosophy at AccentCare that we don’t make changes to clinical practice without having a conversation with the people who are delivering clinical care,” Tracy Dent, vice president of clinical operations at AccentCare, told Home Health Care News. “They’re the people who are delivering care at the bedside. We want to make sure they have a voice in decisions that are going to impact their ability to do so.”Editor's Note: Pair this with another article in today's newsletter, "Three ways to communicate with Gen-Z—and why it’s important."

National Hospice Locator updatedBlog; by Cordt T. Kassner; 5/27/24The National Hospice Locator (NHL) is a free and publicly available online directory of every known hospice location in the US, and default search results have been sorted by a quality matrix for over a year. On 5/22/24, CMS released updated Hospice Care Compare files. Part of the NHL's quality matrix includes Hospice Care Compare information, and the NHL has now been updated. Search your state or city to see how your hospice is listed. For the first time ever, two hospices achieved 100% of possible ranking points - congratulations:

Addus announces sale of its personal care business in New YorkHome Helath Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 5/21/24Addus HomeCare Corporation is selling its New York personal care business, along with its fiscal intermediary services for the state’s consumer-directed care program. The company announced Tuesday that it will offload its New York operations to HCS-Girling, another home-based care provider. The divestment will be worth “up to” $23 million for Addus, the company said, and the transaction is not yet closed. ... Based in Frisco, Texas, Addus provides home care, home health and hospice services to more than 49,000 consumers across 214 locations spanning 22 states.

Avow honors local veterans at 8th Annual Armed Forces CelebrationAvow Cares; Press Release; 5/23/24 Local Veterans from various branches of the military convened at Avow’s 8th Annual Armed Forces Celebration. The event, held on May 17 provided a tribute to those who have served or are currently serving our nation with valor and sacrifice. ... This annual celebration not only serves as a day of deep respect and gratitude but also as a crucial part of Avow’s ongoing commitment to recognizing the heroic service of our Veterans. Throughout the year, Avow distributes approximately 2,000 pins to honor veterans for their service. ... Avow is a Level 5 Partner with We Honor Veterans, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). In 2023, nearly 25% of all hospice patients admitted to Avow were identified as Veterans.

Golfers swing for a cause raising $15,000 for local nonprofit Avow Cares; press release by Renee Stoll; 5/28/24 Hadinger Flooring hosted its 17th Annual Classic Golf Tournament on May 9, 2024, at Tiburon Golf Club, raising $15,000 for local nonprofit Avow. ... The event hosted 150 golfers from various regions around the United States. ... Avow is a nonprofit provider of hospice, palliative care and grief support services. 

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ TS Eliot

Sunday newsletters focus on headlines and top read stories of the last week (in order) - enjoy!

A joint frailty model for recurrent and competing terminal events: Application to delirium in the ICUStatistics in Medicine; by Lacey H. Etzkorn, Quentin Le Coënt, Mark van den Boogaard, Virginie Rondeau, Elizabeth Colantuoni; 5/24Motivated by studies of recurrent delirium events in patients receiving care in an intensive care unit (ICU), we devise a joint model for a recurrent event process and multiple terminal events. ... We propose a competing joint model that uses a latent frailty to link a patient’s recurrent and competing terminal event processes. ... Lastly, we discuss limitations and possible extensions for the competing joint model.Publisher's Note: While complicated, some readers might find this methodological model of interest.

The balance between honesty and hopeJAMA Cardiology; by Sarah Godfrey; 5/24I am training to be a palliative cardiologist, often delivering heartbreaking news, but I was not prepared to receive it as a mother. Before [her new baby boy] N’s diagnosis, I would have said that our responsibility as physicians is to prepare families for the worst possible outcome. But how can we balance honesty and hope? Could that neurologist have prepared us for the potentially devastating outcome while also allowing us to believe more was possible? When I enter critical illness conversations now, I remember my desperate need for hope when I faced a parent’s worst nightmare. N has made me a better mother and physician, and he has taught me that we must allow hope to flourish even in the darkest of situations.

Beyond the diagnosis: A deep dive into the end stage liver disease experience from the patient perspectiveAmerican Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; Sheza Malik, MD, Venkat Arutla, MD, Tariq Alamin, MD, Fatima Warraich, MD, Tausif A. Syed, MD, Mahesh Nepal, MD, Muhammad Farhan Ashraf, MD, and Karin J. Dunnigan, MD; 5/24The study identified six primary themes: the significance of communication style in diagnosis delivery, the crucial role of family and social support, varied understanding and preferences for palliative care, diverse attitudes towards advanced care planning, preferences for coordinated healthcare experiences, and the emotional and psychological impact of ESLD. ... Our study underscores the complexity of ESLD patient care beyond medical treatment, highlighting the importance of clear communication, empathetic care, and the integration of family and palliative care services.

Challenges and solutions of conducting dementia clinical trials: A palliative care at home pilot for persons with dementiaJournal of the American Geriatrics Society; by Leah V. Estrada, PhD, Laura Gelfman, MD, Meng Zhang, MD, Christian Espino, BA, Nathan Goldstein, MD; 4/24We enrolled 30 patients and their 30 caregivers in our pilot trial of home-based palliative care. We found two significant barriers to enrollment: (1) the electronic health record was insufficient to determine the severity ofpatients' dementia; and (2) rates of follow-up survey completion were low, with completion rates at 6 months between 14 and 44%. We created an iterative training process to determine dementia severity from electronic health records and applied person-centered approaches to improve survey completion. ... Electronic health records are not set up to include discrete fields for dementia severity, which makes enrollment of older adults with dementia in a clinical trial challenging. The strain of caring for a loved one with advanced dementia may also make participation in health-services research difficult for patients and their families. Novel approaches have the potential to counteract these challenges, improve recruitment and retention, and ultimately improve care for people with dementia and their caregivers.