Literature Review

Georgia system reopens hospital to inpatient services Hospital CFO Report; by Mariah Taylor; 5/2/24 Piedmont Augusta (GA) is reopening the emergency department and inpatient services at its Summerville campus after converting the location into an outpatient campus over a year ago. Effective May 16, the hospital will open 15 beds in the emergency department, 12 inpatient unit beds, and new imaging services. Outpatient services will continue as normal, according to a May 1 system news release. "What we heard pretty quickly from our community is that they missed the efficiency of that campus," Lily Henson, MD, CEO of Piedmont's Augusta clinical hub, said in the release.

Medicare program suddenly ending leaves seniors in limbo Newsweek; by Suzanne Blake; 5/6/24 Some hospice patients on Medicare Advantage are now facing uncertainty after the government ended a pilot program. Medicare Advantage is one of the top programs for seniors looking for health insurance, and more than 50 percent of those eligible now use the privatized Medicare Advantage option instead of just traditional Medicare. ... According to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, around half of 1.7 million Medicare Advantage recipients who died in 2022 were in hospice for end of life care.

Palliative patients can die peacefully at home with paramedic support, claims proposed frameworkRiotack - Australia; by James Day; 5/6/24A proposed national framework suggests paramedics could help ease pressure on emergency departments by supporting palliative care patients who wish to die at home. Published in the leading international peer reviewed journal Palliative Medicine, the framework seeks to embed palliative care into paramedics’ core business and reduce needless transports to hospital. ... Lead author and trained paramedic Dr. Madeleine Juhrmann developed the framework in consultation with paramedics, palliative care doctors, GPs, carers with lived experience and others. The expert group – representing six countries and all the states of Australia – agreed on the framework’s 32 service changes to standardise best practice for paramedics delivering palliative care in community-based settings.Pair this with a USA article in today's newsletter, "Stranded in the ER, seniors await hospital care and suffer avoidable harm." 

Star ratings of Leapfrog's 25 straight-'A' and 'F' hospitals Becker's Hospital Review; by Mackenzie Bean; updated 5/3/24 A comparison of data from CMS and The Leapfrog Group suggests that a hospital's strong performance in one national quality rating system does not necessarily mean it will be a top performer in another. Leapfrog updated its spring safety grades May 1, recognizing 15 hospitals that have received an "A" grade in every consecutive update since 2012. Of these hospitals, only eight received a five-star rating from CMS. Similar discrepancies are seen across Leapfrog's "F" hospitals. While two did receive one star — the lowest possible rating — another five received two stars, and one hospital earned four stars. [Click on the title's link for the list.]

Keys to addressing ethical, moral distress in pediatric hospice Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 5/6/24 Hospices may be under-prepared to navigate the complexities in end-of-life decisions among terminally ill children, as the ethical and moral considerations related to patient autonomy are vastly different for pediatric populations compared to adults. Ethical principles of autonomy vary in pediatric populations due to a number of factors, including a child’s age, developmental stage, cognitive capacity and their spiritual background and beliefs, according to Christy Torkildson, director at the Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition of California. 

He Thinks His Wife Died in an Understaffed Hospital. Now He’s Trying to Change the Industry.Fortune; by KFF Health News and Kate Wells; 4/19/24For the past year, police Detective Tim Lillard has spent most of his waking hours unofficially investigating his wife’s death. The question has never been exactly how Ann Picha-Lillard died on Nov. 19, 2022: She succumbed to respiratory failure after an infection put too much strain on her weakened lungs. She was 65. For Tim Lillard, the question has been why.Publisher's note: We often discuss workforce shortages in terms of staff stress. This interesting and heartbreaking story explores workforce shortages in terms of patient harm.

Highlighting Nurses Week: Best, worst states for nurses in 2024 Becker's Hospital Review; by Erica Carbajal; 4/30/24 WalletHub has deemed Washington the best state for nurses to practice in 2024 — a recognition based on an analysis of earnings, job growth and working conditions. For the annual ranking, the financial services company compared 50 states across two key dimensions: opportunity and competition, and work environment. Twenty metrics were grouped into those two dimensions, ... Here are the 10 best and worst states for nurses in 2024, per the ranking:  ...

TCN News Stories of the Month, April 2024TCN Talks; by Chris Comeaux; 5/1/24In this week’s podcast Mark Cohen joins once more for the Top News Stories for the prior month. This is a new format as Mark has retired from publishing the Hospice News Today as he has transitioned it to Cordt Kassner and the daily publication has been rebranded as Hospice and Palliative Care Today. You can subscribe for free here: https://www.hospicepalliativecaretoday.com.

Our Hospice of South Central Indiana receives grant from MDRT Foundation Shelby Chamber; 5/3/24 Thanks to the Greater Horizon Financial Group’s partnership, Our Hospice has received a $2,500 grant for its Pediatric Hospice Care services from the Million Dollar Round Table Foundation (MDRT). The MDRT gives to charitable organizations worldwide, demonstrating the generosity, service, and impact of MDRT members.  This year, the MDRT Foundation will award over $1.8 million in MDRT member-endorsed grants to over 350 charitable organizations worldwide. ...

Hospice patient airlifted to safety during East Texas floods The Gilmer Mirror; by Emily Foxhall, Carlos Nogueras Ramos and Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune; 5/3/24[Scroll down on this webpage to "East Texasn try to reach their homes, save pets"] Willie Rawls woke up to water at the steps of his home Thursday in the river bottoms of Coldspring – one of the first towns hit by the several hundred thousand gallons of water released from the Lake Livingston Dam. The dam was releasing water in an effort to maintain its levels as merciless rain storms drenched East Texas this week. Rawls, 73 and in hospice care, was evacuated by the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Office, who arrived in an airboat and lifted him to safety. 

Scotland Regional Hospice Golf Tournament garners $180KThe Laurinburg Exchange; 5/3/24 The Scotland Regional Hospice Golf Tournament returned to Scotch Meadows Country Club for the 38th year on Tuesday and Wednesday raising $180,383. Since its inception in the 1987, $4.7 million has been raised and all proceeds go toward Scotland Regional Hospice. ... About 60 volunteers worked tirelessly to ensure success of the tournament. Volunteer co-coordinator Bill Hill said, “This tournament is 95% volunteer run. ... SRH is a non-profit organization that provides end-of-life care to people in the area. 

Workers at two Essentia Health facilities file for union representation Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA); by Sam Fettig and Lauren Bloomquist; 5/2/24 Registered nurses at Essentia Miller Hill Surgery Center and nurses and other healthcare workers at Essentia Solvay Hospice House announced this week that they have filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association ... because they want a voice in their workplace to improve both working conditions and how care is provided to their patients. ... At Essentia Solvay Hospice House, workers across the board, including Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Nursing Assistants, Administrative Assistants, Environmental Services workers, and Cooks, filed for a union election.