Literature Review

Future of LCHD-Hospice uncertainDaily Gate City (Keokuk, IA)December 8, 2023Keokuk, IA—Lee County Supervisor Chairman Garry Seyb is prepared for a lengthy workshop following the supervisors’ regular meeting Monday as officials look at the possible discontinuation of the Lee County Health Department’s hospice program. “It’s an emotional issue. It provides a needed, respectable service as far as I know,” Seyb told The Daily Democrat on Friday. “With that being said, we are looking at everything, not just the health department.”

Severna Park Teens Fold Hope Into Gifts For Hospice PatientsSeverna Park [MD] VoiceDecember 8, 2023... Kateri Jarvis and Hannah Kim hope classmates will help them make hundreds of origami cranes to give to Hospice of the Chesapeake patients. Inspired by the Wishing Crane Project, a nonprofit organization started by high schoolers in Arizona, the Severna Park High School juniors worked through the summer to start a chapter at their school.

What It’s Like Watching My Friends Die in PrisonBy Martez JohnsonVeraDecember 7, 2023I work in hospice at a maximum-security prison. The question I get the most is, “How can you do that?” Honestly, it’s not easy. We are literally sitting with death. Hospice is a program that we sign up for, where we sit with another prisoner while he dies. That’s not all we do; there’s far more to it than that. But for now, that’s what I’ll say. When someone who is sick and has signed a “do not resuscitate” order gets to the point of no return, they call us in. I or one of my comrades sit with them while they die. When I started hospice, I didn’t really know what it meant. I understood how to do the job itself, but I didn’t really understand its gravity in full. The toll it takes on you. How mental it is. How much love it takes. How much forgiveness you have to give to the man who’s dying in front of you, even when it’s not yours to give. How much it makes you want forgiveness for your past actions. I go into each room knowing that death is on the other side of that door. By the time I show up, there’s no more hope. Can you imagine being in prison without any hope? I don’t think it’s right for any human to die in prison, but I’ve seen it so many times. I walk with death. I sit with death. ... So, to answer that question I get most: I do this because my friends need me to.[Editor’s Note: an advocate for prison reform, a writer, a hospice volunteer, and a mentor.]

Teleios Collaborative Network Announces Teleios University GraduatesNews ReleaseDecember 7, 2023Hendersonville, NC—Teleios Collaborative Network announced its 2023 Teleios University graduates. Eleven individuals successfully completed the year-long program, earning their certificates in leadership excellence. TU’s Leadership Excellence program is unlike any other. This one-year course is provided through monthly webinars, experiential monthly activities, quarterly challenges and more. It culminates with a capstone project and earns each participant who completes the assignments a certification in leadership excellence. This year’s graduates include the following leaders in the Hospice and Serious Illness Sector:

MedPAC Advises Cutting Skilled Nursing Medicare Payment Rate by 3%Skilled Nursing NewsDecember 8, 2023The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is recommending that for fiscal year 2025, Congress should reduce the 2024 Medicare-based payment rates for skilled nursing facilities by 3%, citing strong margin projections, occupancy growth and access to capital for the sector.

COVID vaccination rates ‘alarmingly’ low among nursing home staff, CDC says—’A real danger’FOX NewsDecember 7, 2023Despite the higher risk that the coronavirus poses to older adults, a surprisingly low share of nursing home staff and residents are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. Only six states are indicating that over 10% of staff members are updated on their vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Holly Ball 2023 Raises Over $850,000 for Three Central Minnesota StaplesKNSI-AM (St. Cloud, MN)December 7, 2023St. Cloud, MN—The CentraCare Foundation says the Hollyball Gala Saturday night saw 1,200 people raising over $850,000 for three important central Minnesota staples. The proceeds will benefit the Central Minnesota Child Advocacy Center, CentraCare Hospice, and the Coborn Cancer Center. Living up to this year’s theme, “Be The Good,” the money will help the hospice center purchase the Empathy app which provides real-time support, day or night, for families of hospice patients during the grieving process.

NJ extends Medicaid palliative care for poor and elderlyNJ Spotlight NewsDecember 7, 2023New Jersey plans to expand health insurance coverage so that low-income residents with a serious advanced illness can get pain relief and other palliative care at home, regardless of their prognosis, or if they live independently, in a nursing home or assisted living. The state Assembly is expected to take a final vote Thursday on bipartisan legislation that adds community-based palliative care—including specialized medical treatment, emotional and spiritual support and other services to improve patients’ quality of life—to the list of benefits Medicaid will pay for in New Jersey. 

Summit County nursing homes testing robots to address staff shortagesAkron (OH) Beacon JournalDecember 6, 2023Two Akron-area nursing homes—Copley Health Center and The Village of St. Edward—are turning to robots to help alleviate staffing shortages in their facilities. The robots are part of a pilot program facilitated by the Direction Home Akron Canton Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities. Each facility has adopted different procedures for their robot to help with. Examples of tasks the robots perform include meal and package delivery, hydration carts and cleaning food trays and dining areas.  ... So far during the pilot program, the two robots have traveled more than 163 miles and have made over 2,220 deliveries to residents. Though the robots are used daily and have been well received by staff and residents, they are not intended to replace human contact, according to the news release.

Patients stuck in Washington hospitals pose quandary for state lawmakersWashington State StandardDecember 6, 2023Washington needs to do more to keep people from staying at hospitals longer than medically necessary, state health officials told lawmakers this week. Over the last five years, the Legislature has approved spending and policy changes to help shorten stays for “complex discharge” patients—those who are in hospitals but cannot be discharged to a long-term care or behavioral health facility for a variety of complicated reasons. In 2020, the average length of stay was 57 days for patients who were referred to the state for long-term support and Medicaid funding, compared to 32 days this year. But Bea Rector, assistant secretary for aging and long-term support at the Department of Social and Health Services, says 32 days is still too long.

California system to lay off 160 amid planned home health saleBecker’s Hospital CFO ReportDecember 6, 2023Walnut Creek, Calif.-based John Muir Health is laying off 164 employees in Concord ahead of a planned sale of its home health services division to Cornerstone Home Healthcare. John Muir announced in October that it would transfer its home health assets to a company currently owned by Cornerstone; that transaction is expected to close Jan. 1. Once the deal is closed, Cornerstone will be the majority owner and John Muir will operate a 40% minority stake, a spokesperson for the health system told Becker’s on Dec. 6. According to WARN documents filed with the state, 164 John Muir Home Health employees will be laid off by Dec. 29, but they have the opportunity to apply to the new company under Cornerstone.

How the Hospice Care Index Can Help Shape an Operator’s FutureHospice NewsDecember 7, 2023Strong performance on the Hospice Care Index is becoming increasingly essential to securing payer and referral contracts and will be a key consideration in the federal government’s forthcoming Special Focus Program. ... Health care consumers are also becoming more aware of these data. ... HCI data will be a key component of the algorithm that CMS will use to determine which hospices qualify for the SFP, coming in 2024. CMS plans to target hospices who fall within the lowest 10% of performers on a range of quality metrics and survey data.