Literature Review

Revolutionizing Elderly Care: Palliative Care's growth and integration into Value-Based ModelsBNN, by Olalekan Adigun; 3/5/24Amid the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, palliative care is undergoing a significant transformation, marking a new era in the management and delivery of healthcare services to the elderly. Dr. Jason Black, a seasoned family medicine practitioner with a specialized fellowship in geriatrics, is at the forefront of this change. Working for Gilchrist, a hospice and palliative care organization in Baltimore and central Maryland, Dr. Black embodies the integration of palliative care into the broader healthcare framework, emphasizing value-based care models.

Bill to legalize medical aid in dying fails to advance in General Assembly, won’t become law in 2024 ABC News 8, Richmond, VA; by Tyler Englander; 3/4/24A bill to allow terminally ill patients to ask for physician-assisted death, or “medical aid in dying,” failed to pass a House committee on Monday, meaning it won’t become law in 2024. The House Courts of Justice Committee agreed to continue Senate Bill 280 to 2025, ending its chances of final passage in this year’s session.

Coverage denials in Medicare Advantage—Balancing access and efficiencyJAMA Health Forum; by Suhas Gondi, MD, MBA; Kushal T. Kadakia, MSc; and Thomas C. Tsai, MD, MPH; 3/1/24 Each year, millions of claims for medical services are denied by health insurance plans. Many denials may be justified as a necessary strategy to reduce wasteful spending from low-value care. However, denials may also delay diagnosis and/or treatment for patients, and appealing denials contributes to clinician workload and burnout. This tension is apparent in the Medicare program, where denials affect millions of beneficiaries who enroll in Medicare Advantage (MA). 

A whistleblower lawsuit cost ChristianaCare $47M. Why are whistleblower cases increasing? Delaware Online, by Esteban Parra and Xerxes Wilson; 3/4/24A former medical director specializing in neurosurgery at southern Delaware’s largest health care provider claims in a lawsuit that Bayhealth Medical Center misclassified “brain-dead” patients in order to overbill for services. ... [The whistleblower reported that] hospital officials discussed a "new hospital initiative" in which suspected "brain-dead" patients would be discharged and admitted to hospice before any declaration of brain death, according to the lawsuit. The scheme allowed for prolonged billing where previous billing ended with the patient’s death, the complaint states. [Please refer to the article for details.]

Hackers behind Change Healthcare breach get $22M  Becker's Health IT, by Laura Dyrda; 3/5/24The cybercriminal organization responsible for hacking UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare has received a multimillion dollar payment in bitcoins, according to Reuters.UnitedHealth Group said Change was hit by BlackCat ransomware group Feb. 21, forcing its systems offline. The claims processing and revenue cycle management platform is still working to restore functionality, and asked health systems to use alternative methods for claims processing while its systems are down. BlackCat claimed it stole 6 terabytes of data from Change, including medical records and Social Security numbers. 

Man’s dying wish was to see newest ‘Dune’ film. Director made it happen before release Global News, by Alessia Simona Maratta; 3/4/24 A palliative care patient’s end-of-life wish was to see the second installment of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune before he passed. The Quebec filmmaker and his team rushed to make it happen almost two months before the film’s premiere and just days before the man died. 

APRNs, home health / personal care aides top healthcare careers in 2024 McKnights Senior Living, by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 2/28/24Advanced practice registered nurses and home health and personal care aides lead the list of top healthcare careers in 2024, according to a study from digital healthcare platform Tebra. The researchers compared 46 healthcare industry jobs by median pay, 10-year outlook and expected job growth, employment per 10,000 workers and web search volume, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau. ... Among all healthcare occupations included in the study, ones in home care had the highest employment rate. 

Profits at hospice firm VITAS soar by whopping nearly 88 percent in Q4 McKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 2/29/24Hospice firm VITAS, a subsidiary of Chemed, enjoyed a stellar fourth quarter as profits rose by nearly 88% to reach $63 million. It helped to buoy Chemed’s overall earnings as the parent company’s other subsidiary, plumbing subsidiary Roto-Rooter, struggled with weaker profits and sales. 

Contract CNA staffing associated with worse care quality outcomes: study McKnights Senior Living, by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 3/1/24Nursing homes that use contract staffing to fill certified nursing assistant position vacancies are more likely to experience worse care quality than those that do not, according to the results of a study by PHI. The proportion of total CNA hours filled by contract CNAs in SNFs increased from 2% in 2017 to 11% in 2022, the study found.

Medicare’s new Dementia GUIDE Model: How can physicians, hospices, and home health agencies participate? Morgan Lewis Blog Post; 3/1/24If you have had a loved one suffer from dementia, you know the emotional, physical, and financial toll of this terrible disease. With advancements in dementia treatment, however, there is renewed hope on addressing this disease and increasing emphasis on fostering innovative care models. A central pillar of this effort is the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) model, announced by the US Department of Health and Human Service’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in July 2023. This initiative—a new voluntary, nationwide alternative payment model—is designed to support Medicare beneficiaries with dementia, as well as their caregivers.

Opinion: How death can be the chance to serve others WAtoday, by Annie Whitlock; 3/3/24 I see my death as an opportunity to serve others ... . A few years ago, I offered my corpse to the department of anatomy and physiology at the University of Melbourne. The university co-ordinates a body donor program for the purposes of anatomical examination and the precious teaching and study of anatomy to its medical students. ... To the medical students who will be learning from my body I gave the department the following letter: I give you my body. ... Learn from me this one last time. So my organs, flesh and scars tell of times and outcomes that in death I cannot utter any more. ...

Could Kansas adopt medical cannabis pilot program? Legislation in the works Kansas News, by Rebekah Chung; 3/1/24Medical marijuana advocates are crafting proposals for this session. Nexstar’s Kansas Capitol Bureau confirmed that a medical cannabis pilot program proposal is in the works. The future of marijuana reform lies in the Kansas Senate’s hands, as the House awaits action.

Change Healthcare's temporary funding program 'not even a Band-Aid,' AHA says Becker's Health IT, by Giles Bruce; 3/4/24 The American Hospital Association called Change Healthcare's temporary funding program for providers affected by the cyberattack on the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary inadequate, while a U.S. Senate leader asked CMS to speed up payments to hospitals. Change Healthcare set up the funding assistance March 1 for providers facing cash-flow issues after losing access to its payer systems, which have been down since the Feb. 21 ransomware attack. However, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack wrote in a March 4 letter to UnitedHealth Group that the program is "not even a Band-Aid on the payment problems you identify."