Literature Review

Chesapeake Life Center offers monthly LGBTQIA+ drop-in grief support group Southern Maryland News Net; 5/6/24 Chesapeake Life Center will host a monthly drop-in grief support group for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. ... Grief is a hard and vulnerable time, and it is important to have safe spaces to process what we are going through. This group is intended for adult members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are grieving a past or approaching death. The group will be facilitated by a licensed queer therapist but will be loosely structured to offer an opportunity for participants to share their feelings and grieve with community.Editor's Note: Hospice & Palliative Care Today does not post upcoming, local hospice events, grief support groups, volunteer trainings, etc. However, we're posting this LGBTQIA+ grief support due to its unique need, with opportunities for replication in other hospices. 

Highlighting Nurses Week: Tidewell Foundation raising the next generation of hospice nurses Observer; by Tidewell Foundation; 5/2/24 ... Serving Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties [Florida], the Tidewell Foundation provides the philanthropic support needed to ensure all who need the world-class care of Tidewell Hospice ... funds the only accredited non-profit Nurse Residency program in the United States. Tidewell began its Nurse Residency Program in 2018 to combat the nursing shortage in our region. Now, 6 years later, it is the first hospice to be accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), joining a network of 264 nurse residency programs across the nation.

Hospice remains a blind spot for Medicare Advantage Axios; by Maya Goldman; 5/6/24 As Medicare Advantage grows bigger and bigger, there's one area the industry and regulators haven't figured out how to make work yet: hospice. Why it matters: The end-of-life care option is the only Medicare service that can't be offered in the private-run alternative, which now covers over half of enrollees. ... Catch up quick: Usually, when a Medicare Advantage beneficiary decides to enter hospice after receiving a terminal diagnosis, traditional Medicare pays for this care while they remain enrolled in their private plan. ... Editor's Note: This practical, user-friendly article outlines the purposes, challenges, and outcomes of Medicare Advantage with hospice patients. Share this with your leaders and board members.

Elara Caring, cited in death of visiting nurse Joyce Grayson, vows to contest violation McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 5/3/24 The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited home health, hospice and personal care provider Elara Caring for failing to provide adequate safeguards to protect visiting nurse Joyce Grayson from workplace violence. Grayson, a licensed practical nurse, was killed last Oct. 28 while providing a home health visit for a client living in a halfway house in Willimantic, CT.  The DOL disclosed this week that its OSHA division cited New England Home Care, where Grayson worked, and Jordan Health Care Inc., which both do business as Elara Caring, with a “Willful-Serious” citation. Elara Caring faces up to $163,627 in penalties resulting from the citation. ...

CMS: Advance health equity during National AANHPI Heritage Month CMS.gov; email 5/2/24 During May, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) recognizes National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month by highlighting disparities for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. These communities account for more than 7% of the U.S. population and have the fastest population growth rate among all racial and ethnic groups, having almost doubled since 2000. Between 2017 and 2019, the number of Asian Americans enrolled in Medicare grew by 11%, which was the highest percentage increase in enrollment compared to White, Black, and Hispanic enrollees. ... [Read for more descriptions, data and resources.]

Optum layoffs affect teams in Medicare Advantage I-SNP, IE-SNP business Skilled Nursing News; by Zahida Siddiqu; 5/2/24 Optum is paring back its workforce, including in the parts of the business related to Medicare Advantage plans for nursing home and assisted living residents. ... The recent layoffs at Optum number hundreds of people across various parts of the company, according to multiple news reports. The company is discontinuing its virtual care business, as Endpoints first confirmed. ... Multiple sources have shared that out of a roughly 20% to 30% of a 400-person workforce [in IE-SNP business] has been laid off in this part of Optum. ... The reduction in staff was across the board from senior leaders on the clinical end to low-level employees, industry sources said.

What Walmart’s exit means for the future of telehealthModern Helathcare; Brock E.W. Turner; 5/3/24 There is a dark cloud hovering over virtual care as big companies have struggled to launch telehealth-centric businesses. Retail giant Walmart announced Tuesday it was closing all of its clinics and shuttering its virtual care platform. The decision impacted 51 clinics across five states and represents a sharp reversal of a five-year strategy. ... Here is what five telehealth executives and investors had to say about recent challenges in virtual care. ...

HHS finalizes disability access rule for healthcare providers Modern Healthcare, by Kara Hartnett; 3/2/24 The Health and Human Services Department finalized a rule that broadens nondiscrimination protections for individuals with disabilities in healthcare environments. ... When the rule takes effect July 1, healthcare organizations will be required to modify facilities and medical equipment to cater to patients' physical and sensory needs. Facilities will have to update features such as elevators and ramps to ensure they are functional and meet federal standards. In addition, healthcare organizations must ensure websites, mobile apps and virtual care programs are user-friendly for people with disabilities and remove disability status as a factor in clinical support tools.

Breaking the silence: The mounting need for trauma-informed hospice care Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 5/3/24Traumatized and abused hospice patients and providers often experience an array of lingering physical, emotional and psychological effects that can fall into a silent abyss of unmet needs. ... Many seniors have experienced some form of trauma or abuse in their lifetime. ... More data has become available in recent years around the prevalence of different types of abuse and trauma. Roughly 10% of seniors 65 and older nationwide are victims of some type of abuse each year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reported. Caregiver neglect represents 5.1% of these cases, with psychological and physical abuse impacting 4.6% and 1.6% of seniors, respectively. ...Editor's Note: This article highights interviews with Dr. Ashwin Kotwal, assistant professor at the University California San Francisco; Carole Fisher, president, National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI); Dr. Cameron Muir, chief innovation officer, NPHI; Andrea Devoti, executive vice president at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC); Lindsey Owen, executive director of Disability Rights Vermont.

Fallon Health plans to expand inclusive care program into Southeastern Massachusetts SouthCoast Today, The Standard-Times; by Kathryn Gallerani; 5/3/24 Fallon Health, a not-for-profit healthcare services organization based in Worcester with more than 45 years of experience providing care, has plans to open a new Summit ElderCare PACE Center in Dartmouth by the end of this year. PACE, a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, provides services to adults 55 and older, including adults with complex medical needs, so they can age with dignity in their home or community. It's the biggest PACE program in Massachusetts. ... The other Massachusetts Fallon PACE locations are in Webster, Lowell, Leominster and Springfield. Fallon also has a PACE in western New York.

Curricular reform in serious illness communication and palliative care: Using medical students' voices to guide change  Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges; by Jennifer A Reidy, Kate Brizzi, Stephanie H Chan, Hollis Day, Scott K Epstein, Melissa Fischer, Priya S Garg, Anna Gosline, Carolina Jaramillo, Emma Livne, Suzanne Mitchell, Sarah Morgan, Molly W Olmsted, Patricia Stebbins, Isabella Stumpf, Tamara Vesel, Irene M Yeh, Megan E Young, Roberta E Goldman; 5/1/24 Purpose: To gather and leverage the voices of students to drive creation of required, integrated palliative care curricula within undergraduate medical education in Massachusetts, which is lacking in a majority of U.S. medical schools. Conclusions: This study confirms long-standing themes on students' experiences with SIC and palliative care topics, including feeling inadequately prepared to care for seriously ill patients as future physicians. Our study collected students' perspectives as actionable data to develop recommendations for curricular change.

Noncompete ban may squeeze rural hospitals, report shows Modern Healthcare; by Alex Kacik; 5/2/24 The federal noncompete ban may squeeze rural nonprofit hospitals that continue to see labor costs rise, a new report shows. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission voted to finalize a rule preventing most employers from enforcing or issuing contracts that restrict employees from working for a competitor. ... Larger hospitals are more likely to have the financial flexibility to offer clinicians and staff higher wages, likely at the expense of smaller, rural hospitals, Fitch Senior Director Kevin Holloran said.