Literature Review

CHS to sell Tennessee hospital Becker's Hospital Review, by Molly Gamble; 4/18/24 Community Health Systems is preparing to sell off a 351-bed hospital in Tennessee. The Franklin, Tenn.-based health system announced April 18 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell 351-bed Tennova Healthcare – Cleveland (Tenn.) to Hamilton Health Care System in Dalton, Ga., for $160 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024. Earlier this year, CHS CEO Tim Hingtgen said the 71-hospital company was evaluating interest for sales that could yield more than $1 billion in proceeds. In 2023, CHS sold hospitals in West Virginia, Arkansas, and Florida.

WHO unveils 10 patient safety rights

FBI, DEA search Angel Bright Home Health offices Monday, along with state Medicare fraud unit 3NEWS, Corpus Christi, TX, by Ana Tamez and Lexis Greene; 4/22/24 The FBI searched the Angel Bright Home Health Inc. offices Monday morning. FBI Public Affairs Officer Connor Hagan confirmed FBI-Houston agents were partnering with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) on an operation on Holly Road. ... 3NEWS found about a dozen agents at the home-health and hospice agency's office throughout the day Monday. At about 1:15 p.m., they began carting out boxes filled with documents and loading them into an unmarked box truck.

Viral moment: Hospice worker reunites with former mentor for touching bedside serenade FaithIt, by Kelsey Straeter; 4/23/24In Austinburg, Ohio, at the Austinburg Nursing & Rehab Center, a video capturing a deeply moving moment has gone viral, striking a chord with over half a million viewers. The footage shows hospice worker Joshua Woodard singing a heartfelt rendition of “How Great Thou Art” to his former mentor, Mary Redmond, just days before her peaceful passing. ... Decades ago, Mary Redmond was not only a cherished voice and piano teacher in her community but also a vibrant member of the local arts scene, starring in productions such as “Hello, Dolly!” and “The Music Man.” ... One of those lives was a young Joshua Woodard ... She became his first voice coach, leaving a lasting impression that endured through the years.

Health disparities across states: 6 new findings Becker's Clinical Leadership, by Kelly Gooch; 4/18/24 The Commonwealth Fund released a new report April 18 examining racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare access, quality and outcomes across the U.S. The report, titled "Advancing Racial Equity in U.S. Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report," examined state health system performance for five racial and ethnic groups — (non-Hispanic) Black; white; American Indian and Alaska Native; Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander; and Hispanic (any race). [Click on the title's link for (1) Six summary findings, and (2) To download the report. 

Health systems creating new IT C-suite roles Becker's Hospital Review, by Naomi Diaz; 4/19/24 In response to evolving demands within the healthcare landscape, hospitals and health systems are reconfiguring their C-suites and leadership teams to align with organizational priorities. Among the recent developments, several institutions have introduced new roles to their executive teams. [Click on the title's link for examples.]

Community partnership with Hinds Hospice brings supportYourCentralValley.com - MedWatch Today; by Juanita Adame; 4/22/24Facing difficult end-of-life decisions for loved ones is difficult. Community Regional Medical Centers has partnered with Hinds Hospice to bring in an extra layer of support to patients and their families inside the hospital. The services are for patients who cannot be cared for at the home during their end-of-life journey. “We started looking at institutions that could partner with us around delivering inpatient hospice care, not only to reduce our length of stay but to be able to provide a higher level of care for patients in hospice,” said Tina Gulbronsen, VP of Capacity Management at Community Medical Centers. “So this change means that there are some patients that can’t be discharged safely  because they are in some sort of crisis.”

Support mounts for increased hospice accreditor oversightHospice News; by Holly Vossel; 4/16/24Calls are growing louder in support of increased accreditation organization oversight that could help curb fraudulent activity in the hospice space. In a proposed rule released in February the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced a number of provisions aimed at addressing conflicts of interest and establishing more consistent standards, processes and definitions among accreditation entities. The proposed increased oversight would be an important step forward in addressing instances of fraud, waste and abuse in hospice, according to members of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association (CHAPCA). Regulatory changes such as these would be particularly significant in detecting maleficence in regions like California, which have a rise in program integrity challenges, the organization stated in a recent letter to Congress shared with Hospice News.Notable mentions: Sheila Clark, California Hospice and Palliative Care Association.

Hospice volunteers share their ‘why’ The Journal, by Lores Morton; 4/21/2024 From volunteer Lores Morton: Why am I a volunteer for Hospice of the Panhandle? It is for our patient’s caregivers, to give them break relief; to share what may be missing with patient’s spiritual support; to be a memory keeper — legacy; to give simple visitation; and, also, to volunteer administratively for Light Up a Life. ...  From volunteer Kelly Orwig, "My why has evolved, but at the core, is that I love people. I love people who need love. Death and dying are natural, but over our lives, we’ve been socialized to fear death to the point that we fear those who are dying. ...." 

Md. health dept. processed 1.5 million Medicaid enrollees in 12 months; one month left in ‘unwinding’Maryland Matters, by Danielle J. Brown; 4/19/24... Prior to the pandemic people with Medicaid insurance had to reapply annually. Medicaid terminations were paused over the COVID pandemic in order to ensure people were covered during a global health crisis. But starting in 2023, Medicaid re-enrollments were no longer automatic, and people had to reenroll in the program to continue coverage in a period often referred to as the ‘Medicaid unwind.’ ... At the start of the unwinding period, the data show that there were about 1,787,000 people enrolled in Medicaid in March 2023. A year later, there are 1,690,000 people covered by the program. ... But most of the terminations are due to what are called “procedural terminations,” which means that someone either did not start or did not complete their Medicaid reapplication. ... People with procedural terminations have short window after losing coverage when they can reapply to Medicaid and get covered again if they are still eligible.  

Telehealth Accreditation Program The Joint Commission; 4/20/24The Joint Commission has developed a new Telehealth accreditation program (TEL) that will be effective July 1, 2024. This program is intended for health care organizations that exclusively provide care, treatment, and services via telehealth and for health care organizations that provide services via telehealth to another organization’s patients.

Death Cafes: Where people talk mortality over tea and cake The Week UK, by Chas Newkey-Burdent; 4/18/24 Once a month, in countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, people are gathering to eat cake and talk about the typically taboo topic of death. At Death Cafes, said Emma Freud in The Times, people with a range of interests in the subject come together to discuss "the end of life experience in any of its forms,"  ... After joining a Death Cafe in Willesden, northwest London, Gaby Wine wrote in The Jewish Chronicle that it was "heart-warming" that "while not everyone agrees with one another, everyone shows great respect."

Hospice of the Red River Valley celebrates milestone in Heather's House constructionInforum, Fargo, ND; by Michael McGurran; 4/19/24An important milestone for a first-of-its-kind Hospice facility in North Dakota, a dream project literally decades in the making. It was just two years ago that staff broke ground on the ambitious project. Heather's House will serve as a "hospital in disguise," a place with 18 beds where family and loved ones can spend their final time together in comfort, rather than in a hospital. It's all fully funded by donors. "You brought to life, a 25-year dream for this community," Hospice of the Red River Valley Executive Director Tracee Caprol told a crowd of donors on Friday, April 19. "Twenty-five years. You have the hearts, that compassion, the empathy, and a deep seated understanding of the needs of others."