Literature Review

Norwell hospice honors Weymouth nurse, 99, with a Nightingale pin. "I felt so proud!" The Patriot Ledger, by Sue Scheible; 1/23/24Retired nurse Betty Beecher of Weymouth, nearing 100, describes receiving a Nightingale pin from the NVNA and Hospice, where she now is a patient.

Fortifying the workforce: Employers' guide to critical illness preparednessiCrowdNewswire; 1/22/24In today’s ever-changing and uncertain world, employers are faced with the daunting task of ensuring the well-being and productivity of their workforce. One aspect often overlooked is the preparedness for critical illnesses, which can profoundly impact employees and the organisation.

Cutting hair, growing care: Stylists volunteer for hospice patients Montrose Press, by Katharhynn Heidelberg; 1/22/24... [Kathy] King is among several stylists who volunteer to cut hospice patients’ hair — just a way, they said, of giving back by making others feel good. ... “Contributing is probably the highest gift you can give,” said King. “As far as HopeWest goes, I lose the word sometimes as to what they do, and what they do for the community. I’m just so proud to (volunteer) for them.”

The Long Decline: Health care access grows difficult in shrinking rural communitiesAlabama Reflector, by Alanda Rocha; 1/18/24The lack of health care providers in rural Alabama is stark. Most of Alabama’s rural counties have significantly more people per primary care physician than urban counties. Butler County ... has just one primary care physician per 4,900 residents ... As rural Alabama continues a decades-long population collapse, residents who remain — many of them older people — face increasing barriers to health care, a trend seen around the nation.

Pressing questions about rural telehealth access and investments put innovation in dangerMcKnights Long-Term Care News, by Kimberly Marselas; 1/22/24Proven healthcare technologies can help improve patient care and boost staff confidence, but in many rural areas, one major impediment remains: lack of high-speed internet.

Number of Georgians dropped from Medicaid nears 500,000 The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, by Ariel Hart; 1/22/24Georgia has dropped at least 488,000 from Medicaid, the government health insurance for the poor, as part of a federally mandated project to ensure those covered by the program qualify to remain on it.

Inside a $300M push to save failing hospitalsModern Healthcare, by Kara Hartnett; 1/19/24When Madera Community Hospital declared bankruptcy and suddenly closed its doors a year ago, an agricultural community of 68,000 Californians lost its sole source of emergency and specialty care.

Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together. — Vesta M. Kelly

Healthcare orgs taking steps to remove racial bias from algorithm and AI tools, new report showsMcKnight's Senior Living, by Aaron Dorman; 1/22/24... A team of doctors at the American Academy of Pediatrics is going through hundreds of algorithms and other materials to find, and remove, anything that could exacerbate racial disparities, a “herculean task,” as the JAMA report describes it. The potential for AI-enabled bias could be a major problem for diagnosing life-threatening conditions in seniors. 

Race, ethnicity, and cancer type influence which patients access hospice careOncology Nurse Advisor, by Jennifer Larson; 1/19/24... [A] researcher from a comprehensive cancer center in North Carolina conducted a clinical literature review to investigate research outcomes of hospice use in the United States. ... A total of 17 quantitative studies, published between 2017 and 2023, was included in this review. Notable differences by cancer type were found. ... The analysis also showed disparities in hospice use by race and ethnicity.

Acceptance of digital health technologies in palliative care patientsPalliat Med Rep; by Stefan Wicki, Ian C Clark, Manuel Amann, Sebastian M Christ, Markus Schettle, Caroline Hertler, Gudrun Theile, David Blum; 1/13/24Results: A majority of patients indicated an interest in (69.0%) and positive attitude toward (75.9%) digital health technologies. Nearly all (93.1%) patients believe that digital health technologies will become more important in medicine in the future. Most patients would consider using their smartphone (79.3%) or wearable (69.0%) more often for their health.

StateServ announces acquisition of Delta Care RxPR Newswire; 1/22/2024StateServ, a leading provider of durable medical equipment ("DME") benefit management solutions to the post-acute care market in the United States, has completed its acquisition of Delta Care Rx ("Delta Care"), a national pharmaceutical care provider. Delta Care offers integrated pharmacy benefit management, mail order prescription, sterile/non-sterile compounding, and clinical pharmacist consulting to the hospice and palliative care markets. ... The unique combination forms a leading care-at-home data, technology, and service platform and the industry's first scaled DME and pharmacy solution.