Literature Review

Home Health & Hospice Care Reopens Renovated Inpatient CenterHospice NewsDecember 13, 2023fMerrimack, NH—Home Health & Hospice Care has reopened its inpatient facility in New Hampshire after expanding with a new addition. The Community Hospice House opened in November and serves patients in Merrimack, New Hampshire. ... All told, the hospice anticipates serving more than 600 patients annually at the center going forward, HHHC President and CEO Barbara Lafrance told local news.

“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.” Denis Waitley

Licensed practical nurses petition to oust union at Mayo Clinic’s Austin hospitalMinnesota ReformerDecember 12, 2023Licensed practical nurses and other medical assistants at Mayo Clinic’s Austin hospital are looking to oust their union, the United Steelworkers. It’s the latest in a series of campaigns—supported by the anti-union non-profit National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund—to get rid of unions at Mayo Clinic hospitals. 

Boston VNA Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Cast a Unanimous Vote Authorizing a 14-day StrikePRNewswireDecember 13, 2023Boston, MA—In response to an increase in the complexity of care required for patients admitted for care at home, in conjunction with a lack of staff and resources to provide that level of care, the 60 registered nurses and healthcare professionals who work for the Visiting Nurses Association of Boston/VNA Care, cast a unanimous vote to authorize a 14-day strike in an effort to move their administration to provide the staffing and wage enhancements they need to provide the care their patients deserve. 

Telehealth use among seniors back up to pandemic-era highs, one company claimsMcKnight’s Senior LivingDecember 13, 2023Nearly all seniors in the US, an astonishing 97%, had at least one telehealth appointment this year, a new survey indicates. The data, which comes from remote platform operator Independa, indicates that telehealth usage among seniors has grown 20% over the past three years, nearly back up to the pandemic-era peak, when in-person options were not available. 

Phones ‘connected to nothing but love’ donated to Westport LibraryWestport (CT) JournalDecember 13, 2023Westport, CT—Lynda Shannon Bluestein is nearing the end of her life. In January, the 76-year-old will travel to Vermont where, surrounded by family, she will end the suffering she has experienced from three bouts of cancer in a state where aid-in-dying is permitted. Bluestein, however, first had to sue the state of Vermont, winning her case in June, to allow a non-resident to end her life there. On Wednesday, she plans to give the Westport Library a gift that may help others, especially children, express and process grief when they lose a loved one. Bluestein will donate two “wind phones”—rotary-dial phones that are not connected to anything—that people of all ages can use to speak about their loss and memories of a loved one who has passed away. 

Tending a Garden May Help Lessen GriefBlog PostSeven PondsDecember 3, 2023Tending a garden—planting, tilling, digging, weeding, watering, and growing plants, flowers, or food—could beget us better health and wellness. ... A comprehensive compilation of research by the National Institutes in Health confirms that a regular dose of gardening reduces stress, improves physical health and bolsters our mood. In fact, gardening was shown to positively alter electrical activity in the brain. So it stands to reason that tending a garden could positively impact those who are grieving a loss. ... Reviving a garden that once belonged to a loved one may also soothe a grieving soul.

Occupancy on way to 10th consecutive quarter of growthMcKnight’s Senior LivingDecember 14, 2023Senior living occupancy is on its way to 10 consecutive quarters of positive growth, according to NIC MAP Vision’s November intra-quarterly snapshot report. The positive growth trend in senior living—independent living and assisted living combined—marks the longest period of uninterrupted gains since the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care and NIC MAP Vision began reporting data in 2005, Omar Zahraoui, principal at NIC, wrote in a blog. 

Nursing Home and CCRC Spending Grew 5.6% to $191.3B in 2022—After Dropping 7.8% in 2021Skilled Nursing NewsDecember 13, 2023Nursing homes and continuing care retirement communities made up $191.3 billion of national health expenditures in 2022, an increase from $181.1 billion in 2021, reaching levels close to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pre-pandemic, such expenditures sat between $162 billion and $174.1 billion between 2016 and 2019, according to a survey published by Health Affairs. 

Demand for nurses continues to eclipse supply—reportMcKnight’s Senior LivingDecember 14, 2023Almost three years after the start of the pandemic, a shortage of registered nurses continues to eclipse the supply of qualified professionals. “The US shortage of registered nurses has been called a crisis. Burnout, staff turnover, a growing and aging baby-boomer population, and a lack of educators have contributed to high demand and undersupply, a longstanding problem aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a new report from ADP Research Institute. 

31 positions eliminated as St. Mary’s lays off employees, cuts hours for some amid financial woesPortland (ME) Press HeraldDecember 12, 2023Lewiston, ME—St. Mary’s Healthcare System laid off at least 31 employees effective Monday, according to St. Mary’s news release. ... The decision comes as the hospital system has sustained operating losses over the last five years, according to the press release. 

Medicare Advantage market got more competitive in 2022—AMA.Modern HealthcareDecember 12, 2023The majority of the nation’s health insurance markets remain highly concentrated, but one segment of the industry in particular continues to grow more competitive—Medicare Advantage. The Medicare Advantage market has decreased in concentration since 2017 and continued to do so in 2022, according to the American Medical Association’s annual report Tuesday on health insurers. 

New documentary revisits Terri Schiavo caseAxiosDecember 13, 2023A new documentary revisits the decades-old legal fight concerning Terri Schiavo—a Tampa Bay woman who remained in a persistent vegetative state for over ten years before she died in 2005. “Between Life & Death: Terri Schiavo’s Story” explores how the pro-life movement used Schiavo to further their aims and examines how her right-to-die case laid “the groundwork for a post-Roe America.”