Literature Review

Live discharge of hospice patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias: A systematic reviewAm J Hosp Palliat Care, by Stephanie P Wladkowski, Cara L Wallace, Kathryn Coccia, Rebecca C Hyde, Leslie Hinyard, Karla T Washington; 2/24Hospice is intended to promote the comfort and quality of life of dying patients and their families. When patients are discharged from hospice prior to death (ie, experience a "live discharge"), care continuity is disrupted. This 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.

Medical marijuana for pain management in hospice care as a complementary approach to scheduled opioids: A single arm studyAm J Hosp Palliat Care, by Theodore Zanker, Joseph Sacco, James Prota, Michelle Palma, Kyoung A Viola Lee, Ruixiao Rachel Wang, Yixuan Liang, James Cunningham, Mona Mackary, Polina Ovchinnikova; 12/23Combination medical cannabis/opioid therapy showed statistically significant pain relief and may have the potential for reducing opioid dose and mitigating opioid toxicity, offering a safe pain management alternative to opioids alone for patients in end-of-life care settings, and warrants further investigation in larger controlled trials.

Nurse and social worker palliative telecare team and quality of life in patients with COPD, heart failure, or interstitial lung disease: The ADAPT randomized clinical trialJAMA Network, by David B. Bekelman, MD, MPH; William Feser, MS; Brianne Morgan, BSN; Carolyn H. Welsh, MD; Elizabeth C. Parsons, MD; Grady Paden, MD; Anna Baron, PhD; Brack Hattler, MD; Connor McBryde, MD; Andrew Cheng, MD; Allison V. Lange, MD; David H. Au, MD, MS; 1/16/24Can a nurse and social worker palliative telecare team improve quality of life in outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure (HF), and interstitial lung disease (ILD)? For adults with COPD, HF, or ILD at high risk of hospitalization and death and poor quality of life, a nurse and social worker palliative telecare team demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in quality of life at 6 months.Publisher note: JAMA Network published two palliative care clinical trials in this issue (1: Default palliative care consultation for seriously ill hospitalized patients: A pragmatic cluster randomized trial, and 2: Nurse and social worker palliative telecare team and quality of life in patients with COPD, heart failure, or interstitial lung disease: The ADAPT randomized clinical trial). There is also an editorial on both of these articles: A tale of 2 palliative care trials: Developing sustainable and transferable models by Ashwin A. Kotwal, MD, MS; Lauren J. Hunt, RN, PhD; Alexander K. Smith, MD, MS, MPH, and an audio interview with Alexander K. Smith, MD, MS, MPH, Patient-centered palliative care.

Processes and lessons learned in establishing the Palliative Care Research Cooperative's Qualitative Data Repository in Serious Illness and Palliative CareOSF Preprints, by Salimah H. Meghani, Kim Mooney-Doyle, Amber Barnato, Kathryn Colborn, Riley Gillette, Krista Harrison, Pam Hinds, Dessi Kirilova, Kathleen Knafl, Dena Schulman-Green, Kathryn Pollak, Christine S. Ritchie, Jean Kutner, and Sebastian Karcher; 12/23Data sharing is increasingly an expectation in health research since implementation of the National In-stitutes of Health Data Management and Sharing Policy. Qualitative studies are not exempt from this data sharing requirement. Recognizing this trend, the Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group (PCRC) re-alized the value of creating a de-identified qualitative data repository to complement its existing de-identified quantitative data repository.

Substance use disorder in aging and serious illnessGeriPal podcast with Eric Widera, Alex Smith, Katie Fitzgerald Jones, Jessica Merlin, Devon Check; 1/18/24The CDC’s Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain excludes those undergoing cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care. In doing so, it seems to give the impression that pain seen in cancer is inherently different than pain seen in other conditions and that those with cancer may not have the same risk for opioid use disorder as compared to other conditions.

St. Jude Home Care is first U.S. pediatric home health agency to earn new category of industry certificationPress release; 1/18/24St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Home Care LLC earns dual certfication in pediatrics and home health from Community Health Accreditation Partners (CHAP), an independent, non-profit, accrediting body for home and community-based healthcare organizations. St. Jude Home Care LLC is the nation’s first agency to achieve that distinction. CHAP is the only organization in the U.S. that grants a discrete pediatric certification to home health agencies.

Role matters in understanding 'quality' in palliative care: a qualitative analysis of patient, caregiver and practitioner perspectivesBMJ Open, by Laura M Holdsworth, Karleen Giannitrapani, Raziel C Gamboa, Claire O'Hanlon, Nainwant Singh, Anne Walling, Charlotta Lindvall, Karl Lorenz; 1/17/24Objectives: To compare the discussions from two panels on the concept of palliative care quality for patients with advanced cancer, exploring the priorities reflected in each group's perspectives.

16 sustainable health care design examplesgb&d / Health Care, by Andrew Biro; 1/17/24WHO defines a sustainable health care facility as one that “improves, maintains, or restores health while minimizing negative impacts on the environment and leveraging opportunities to restore and improve it, to the benefit of the health and well-being of current and future generations.”Editor's Note: Does your organization plan to build any type of building? Examine these healthcare designs and guiding priniciples.

Traditions Health adds handful of home health veterans to leadership teamHome Health Care News, by Patrick Filbin; 1/17/24Traditions Health has added five new names to its leadership team, many of which are home health veterans ... 

15 most common reasons CMS cited a hospital in 2023Becker's Clinical Leadership, by Paige Twenter; 1/17/24Accreditation organizations, including The Joint Commission and DNV Healthcare, completed nearly 4,000 surveys in 2023. [Click on the article for a list of the top 15 citations.]

Grief care’s 2024 outlook in hospiceHospice News, by Holly Vossel; 1/11/24Finding the right balance of support and career development for bereavement care professionals is key to recruitment and retention as hospices combat labor strains. ... The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires hospices to offer bereavement care for a minimum of 13 months following a patient’s death. Many providers extend this care to communities across their service regions, regardless of whether the deceased was a patient.

US Senate launches investigation of assisted living after lay media reports about safety, staffing, pricingMcKnight's Senior Living, by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 1/17/24The US Senate Special Committee on Aging is launching a review of the assisted living industry following recent articles in the Washington Post, which reported on the deaths of residents who wandered from communities, as well as the New York Times and KFF, which scrutinized an industry pricing structure that adds fees on top of basic charges to cover additional services, as well as rate increases and the for-profit status of most providers.