Literature Review

[Mississippi] Doctors plead with Senate to ‘do right’ and expand Medicaid Mississippi Today, by Sophia Paffenroth; 3/21/24 ...  “I’m calling on the Senate to do right and to come up with a mechanism by which these people can have coverage,” Dr. Randy Easterling, former president of the Mississippi State Medical Association, said. Easterling recounted the story of one working Mississippian named Jimmy who delayed seeking treatment and was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer. He is now on hospice and “probably has two to three weeks to live,” Easterling said. 

Deal or No Deal: The futures of 3 home-based care companiesHome Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 3/21/24 Most buyers in home health and personal care are signaling they'll be more active in the M&A market this year. There are three major home-based care deals that have happened, or may happen, in the near-term future. All of them could have significant ripple effects.

How the analytics of care can balance workforce capacity MedCity News, by Derek Streat; 3/19/24 U.S. healthcare is experiencing a supply and demand crisis as it races to keep pace with an aging population amidst a workforce shortage and mounting financial pressures. And the situation appears unlikely to improve anytime soon. In fact, recent projections anticipate a shortfall of 139,000 physicians in the next decade, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. One limiting factor preventing the efficient management of workforce resources is a lack of data interoperability. ... 

Hospice group pushes for clarity in N.Y. state budget as some warm to for-profit care Spectrum News 1; by Susan Arbetter; 3/19/24 New York state has the lowest utilization of hospice in the country, which can be attributed to several factors, including low health literacy rates. But the state’s recent progress in support of end-of-life care may be threatened by something even more insidious: corporate greed. To investigate that issue nationally, a joint request for information was issued by the federal Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Trade Commission into private equity-backed health care and its impact on quality. Yet despite dire warnings, New York state is slowly opening the door to for-profit, private equity-backed hospice care. 

CAHPS Hospice Survey - Quality Assurance Guidelines V10.0: Technical Corrections and Clarifications, March 2024 HospiceCahpsSurvey.org; 3/20/24Subsequent to the release of the CAHPS Hospice Survey Quality Assurance Guidelines V10.0 (QAG V10.0), it has been determined that there is a specific content item that requires correction, addition and/or further clarification. The protocol listed in this document replace the previous release of the content in the CAHPS Hospice Survey Quality Assurance Guidelines V10.0. The items are identified [in the pdf available at the title's link].

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

Hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary BecerraHouse Ways and Means CommitteePublisher's note: CA Representatives Steel (@ 4:01) and Van Duyne (@ 4:14) ask pointed questions of Secretary Becerra regarding hospice fraud, particularly focused on Southern California. Thanks to Sheila Clark, California Hospice & Palliative Care Association, for sharing this link. Also, yesterday (3/20/24) Judi Lund Person, Lund Person & Associates Hospice Consulting, presented on this specific topic at the Nebraska Hospice & Palliative Care Association Annual Conference.

Physicians, spirituality, and compassionate patient careNew England Journal of Medicine, by Daniel P Sulmasy; 3/24The past few decades have seen an international revival of interest in the role of spirituality in patient care. ... I believe this trend is salutary for patients and health care professionals alike. Yet the success of a biopsychosocialspiritual approach to 21st-century health care will depend on careful attention to ethical guidelines and boundaries in our increasingly pluralistic world.

Eye donation in palliative and hospice care settings: Patient views and experiencesBMJ Open Ophthalmology, by Tracy Long-Sutehall, Mike Bracher, Banyana Cecile Madi-Segwagwe, Michelle Myall, Adam Hurlow, Professor Christina Faull, Clare Rayment, Jane Wale, Sarah Mollart, Jill Short, Erika Lipscombe, Emma Winstanley; 11/22There is a global shortage of donated eye tissue for use in sight saving and sight restoring operations such as corneal transplantation. ... Patients who die in palliative and hospice care settings could potentially donate eye tissue, however, the option of eye donation is not routinely raised in end-of-life planning discussions. ... It is imperative that patients who would want to be a donor are identified and assessed for eligibility for donation as part of high-quality end of life care.Publisher's note: Organ and tissue donation are interesting topics often overlooked in hospice and palliative care settings. I wrote a brief blog, have presented on, and encourage more discussion of this topic.

Karen Bullock honored for Outstanding Contributions to Diversity in Palliative MedicineWomen in Academia Report; 3/24As an endowed professor at Boston College and scholar at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Bullock’s new award honors her dedication to improving care for underrepresented patient populations in hospice and palliative medicine.

Palliative psychiatry for a patient with treatment-refractory schizophrenia and severe chronic malignant catatonia: case reportAnnals of Palliative Medicine, by Junona Elgudin, Clark Johnsen, Anna Lisa Westermair, Manuel Trachsel; 3/24Palliative psychiatry is an emerging field that suggests a role for palliative interventions in the management of severe and persistent mental illness.

The role and professional standards of the Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner in hospice and palliative careJournal of Hospice & Palliative Care Nursing, by Coats, Heather PhD, APRN-BC; Henrichs, Kelly DNP, RN, GNP-BC; 3/24The adult/gerontology (gero) nurse practitioner (NP) delivers primary and/or specialty palliative care to persons and their families who live each day with a myriad of serious illnesses. In this role, the adult/gero NP uses their skill set to address the whole person (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual/existential) to improve the quality of life for persons they care for. This article is the fourth in a series of 6 highlighting the different roles of the adult/gero NP and the advanced certified hospice and palliative registered nurse, and how these 2 roles overlap. The purpose of this article was to provide details of education and certification pathways for these NP roles, describe the overlaps in clinical care, and illustrate how the adult/gero NP in palliative and hospice care can contribute to leadership in program development for care of persons and their families who live with serious illness.