Literature Review

Petals for Patients blossom smiles to hospice patientsKNWA & KFTA News, northwest Arkansas, by Elena Ramirez and Brad Horn; 2/15/24When Becky Davis decided to retire, she wanted to help those in hospice in some capacity, and she found it in Petals to Patients. Volunteers of Circle of Life, a hospice center, put together bouquets from donated flowers for hospice patients every week.

Medicare program; strengthening oversight of Accrediting Organizations (AOs) and preventing AO Conflict of Interest, and related provisionsFederal Register, Proposed Rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; 2/15/24This proposed rule would set forth a number of provisions to strengthen the oversight of accrediting organizations (AOs) by addressing conflicts of interest, establishing consistent standards, processes and definitions, and updating the validation and performance standards systems. Additionally, this proposed rule would revise the psychiatric hospital survey process, add a limitation on terminated deemed providers and suppliers when reentering the program, and provides technical corrections for End-Stage Renal Disease facilities and Kidney Transplant Programs.

Demand for these health care jobs is increasing most in each stateCentre Daily Times, by Paxtyn Merten Stacker; 2/15/24An analysis including more than 70 other health care jobs projected all but three states to add home health and personal care aides in the highest numbers. In just three states—Colorado, Florida, and South Dakota—did registered nurse job growth outpace home health.

Live discharge of hospice patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: A systematic reviewAmerican Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, by Stephanie P Wladkowski, Cara L Wallace, Kathryn Coccia, Rebecca C Hyde, Leslie Hinyard, Karla T Washington; 2/24This systematic review summarizes the growing body of evidence on live discharge among hospice patients with Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD), a clinical subpopulation that disproportionately experiences this often burdensome care transition.

A study of how Americans die may improve their end of lifeMedical Xpress, by Rutgers University; 1/24/24A Rutgers Health analysis of millions of Medicare records has laid the groundwork for improving end-of-life care by demonstrating that nearly all older Americans follow one of nine trajectories in their last three years of life.

Senior living providers can tap into $25 million grant to develop dementia-specific respite servicesMcKnights Senior Living, by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 2/7/24Senior living operators who provide, or are considering providing, respite services for family caregivers of people living with dementia can apply for a piece of $20 million in grant funding. The Alzheimer’s Association will use a $25 million, five-year grant award from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living to establish a new Center for Dementia Respite Innovation tasked with making respite services and service providers more dementia-capable. 

Hospice providers must be better regulatedScientific American, 2/1/24 (updated from last week's publication)Too many hospice providers in the U.S. are run by private equity and for-profit corporations. A lack of regulation allows them to provide abysmal end-of-life care.

Hospice Benefit Policy Manual updates related to the addition of Marriage and Family Therapists or Mental Health Counselors to the Hospice Interdisciplinary TeamCMS; 1/22/24Change Request 13437 (PDF) purpose is to manualize changes to the hospice interdisciplinary group (IDG) to include Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) or Mental Health Counselors (MHCs). Publisher's note: Also see CMS Hospice Open Door Forum (November 29, 2023) Q&A.

Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations. —  Dr. Mae Jemison

Individual socioeconomic factors have a greater impact on end-of-life care outcomes than regional factorsJournal of Palliative Medicine, by William H. Gansa, Hannah Kleijwegt, Melissa Aldridge, Claire Ankuda; 2/24High quality of care at the end of life may be more associated with individual socioeconomic factors than regional indicators, including degrees of rurality. Clinicians should strive to recognize the interplay of individual characteristics and regional indicators to provide more personalized care.Publisher's note: Also see https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jpm.2023.0163.

The administrative burden on palliative academic physiciansJournal of Pain and Symptom Management, by Rida Khan, Michael Tang, Ahsan Azhar, Eduardo Bruera; 1/24Every faculty member spends annually an approximate average of 5,300 minutes on administrative activities (approximately the equivalent of 29 consults plus 133 follow-ups). Using the department net average per encounter, the approximate value of these encounters is $36, 936 for each faculty member (about 11 clinical days)... We recommend that regulatory agencies and institutions work together to better regulate this list of tasks and their frequency.

Health care costs associated with hospice use for people with dementia in the USHealth Affairs, by Melissa D Aldridge, Lauren J Hunt, Krista L Harrison, Karen McKendrick, Lihua Li, R Sean Morrison; 9/23Policy makers in the US are increasingly concerned that greater use of the Medicare hospice benefit by people with dementia is driving up costs... For community-dwelling people with dementia, Medicare costs were lower for those who used hospice than for those who did not, whether hospice enrollment was in the last three days ($2,200) or last three months ($7,200) of life, primarily through lower inpatient care costs in the last days of life...

Hidden disparities: How language influences patients' access to cancer careNational Comprehensive Cancer Network, by Debbie W Chen, Mousumi Banerjee, Xin He, Lesley Miranda, Maya Watanabe, Christine M Veenstra, Megan R Haymart; 9/23Linguistic disparities exist in access to cancer care for non-English-speaking patients, emphasizing the need for focused interventions to mitigate systems-level communication barriers.