Literature Review

Some prepaid funeral expenses to southern Colorado funeral home being investigated CBS TV 11 News, by Melissa Henry; 3/29/24A man and his wife wonder whether or not they will ever get more than $7,000 dollars back for prepaid funeral expenses after paying Return to Nature Funeral Home. Jon and Carie Hallford are at the center of an investigation in which they are accused of abuse of a corpse, money laundering, theft, and forgery after officials say 189 bodies were found improperly stored at a building tied to the couple’s business in Penrose.

FTC continues to challenge $320M Novant, CHS deal Becker's Hospital Review; by Naomi Diaz; 3/29/24The Federal Trade Commission filed court documents on March 25 seeking a preliminary injunction to bar Winston-Salem, NC-based Novant Health from its $320 million acquisition of two North Carolina hospitals from Franklin, TN-based Community Health Systems. According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, the FTC alleged that Novant Health's proposed acquisition ... would "irreversibly consolidate the market for hospital services in the Eastern Lake Norman Area in the northern suburbs of Charlotte."

Palliative and hospice care in hospitals and clinics: the good, the bad, and the ugly MedPageToday's KevinMD.com; by Earl Stewart, Jr., MD and Miguel Villagra, MD; 4/1/24 I walk into the patient’s hospital room during evening rounds. He looks pale and tired, having recently completed a round of chemotherapy for his stage IV pancreatic cancer. His wife is at the bedside, scared and concerned about her husband’s rapid decline. I sit down to discuss goals of care when the patient immediately says, “I can’t do this anymore.” His wife responds immediately to the patient: “Of course you can.” ...

“Personhood,” not “Patienthood”:  Tips on dignity-conserving practice in palliative careIAHPC, by Kim Adzich, MD; 4/1/24 One of Dame Cicely Saunders’ foundational tenets of palliative care is embodied in her words, “You matter because you are you, and you matter until the last moment of your life.” Dignity is the inherent worthiness of being human, of mattering until that last breath. But how do we ensure that we reflect that inherent dignity back to those in our care? Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, having dedicated decades to researching and teaching dignity-conserving care, ... [offers] a few thoughts on how we can foster that sense of dignity and uniqueness in those we care for as they near the end of life. 

Autism & Grief Project helps autistic adults navigate death and lossCision PRWeb, by Autism & Grief Project; 4/1/24 Launched by the Hospice Foundation of America and supported by the NLM Family Foundation, the project bridges resource gaps for adults on the autism spectrum. The Autism & Grief Project is an online platform supporting autistic adults as they navigate the complexities of grief arising from death and loss. Visitors can access free resources for adults, their families, professional support providers, and clergy members: austismandgrief.org.

Cancer patients often want ‘one more round.’ Should doctors say no? The Washington Post, by Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD; 3/31/24 My patient was in his early 30s and his leukemia had returned again following yet another round of treatment. He was a poster child for the recently reported rise in cancer rates in the young, and had just asked me what chemotherapy cocktail I could devise for him next, to try to rid him of his cancer. I hesitated before answering. Oncologists are notorious for always being willing to recommend to our patients one more course of treatment, even when the chances of success are negligible.  

Interruptions: Bad for hospitalists and their patientsThe Hospitalist, by Larry Beresford; 4/1/24More than 10 years ago this magazine published an article by Winthrop Whitcomb, MD, MHM, a pioneer of hospital medicine and co-founder of the Society of Hospital Medicine, warning of the hazards of workflow interruptions for hospitalists, which he labeled a career satisfaction issue for clinicians but a safety and quality risk for their patients. A decade later, the problem has surely gotten worse as hospital financial pressures and staff shortfalls push caseloads higher and job stresses drive burnout and premature retirement for doctors who have been pulled in too many directions in their work. 

By failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail. - Benjamin Franklin

UCI Health completes acquisition of 4 Tenet hospitals Becker's Hospital Review, by Naomi Diaz; 3/27/24 Orange, CA-based UCI Health has completed its acquisition of Tenet Healthcare's Pacific Coast Network, which includes four hospitals in Southern California and their associated outpatient locations. As part of the agreement, Dallas-based Tenet's medical centers — Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center and Placentia-Linda Hospital — will now be part of UCI Health, according to a March 26 news release from UCI Health. The hospitals were sold for $975 million.

UnitedHealth Group names president Becker's Payer Issues, by Rylee Wilson; 3/29/24 UnitedHealth Group has named CFO John Rex as president of the company. Mr. Rex is taking over the president role from COO Dirk McMahon, who plans to retire. UnitedHealth Group has not announced a successor in the COO role.

Funding opportunity now available! Up to 5 grantee awards totaling $1,275,000 for health equity researchCMS Office of Minority Health; 4/1/24The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health’s (CMS OMH) Minority Research Grant Program (MRGP) is proud to release a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for researchers at minority-serving institutions (MSIs). With this grant, you will partner with CMS OMH to grow your research credentials, increase public knowledge of health equity, and join the ranks of other published MRGP awardees.

North Carolina restaurant fulfills woman’s dying wishABC News WGNO, by Raven Payne; 4/1/24It’s an act of kindness that cleared away a cloud of grief, crossing state lines. A North Carolina restaurant owner drove six hours to deliver what ended up being the last meal for a woman on her death bed. ... On her deathbed, Bowers had one last wish, a pork plate from Outer Banks restaurant Mama Kwans. But Simmons wondered how they could make it happen. After all, they lived six hours away in West Virginia.

Code status discussions; difficult but necessary The Hospitalist, by Mark Menet, MD, MPH; 4/1/24 I thought it was just where I practiced, but it turns out that, in the medical field, we’re really bad about having code discussions, which is a significant issue. When some of my patients revealed that no one had ever asked them about their code status before, I decided to conduct some research on this topic. It turns out that, at most, 41% of patients recall discussions about their code status, however, the 10.3% as documented by another study seems much more accurate.