Literature Review

‘Are nursing homes our only option?’ These centers offer older adults an alternative. Rhode Island Current, by Anna Claire Vollers; 4/12/24PACE centers attract bipartisan interest and, in some states, scrutiny. ... PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) centers provide government-funded medical care and social services to people older than 55 whose complex medical needs qualify them for nursing home care, but who can live at home with the right sort of help. ... Nationally, PACE centers are owned by a variety of health care organizations, including nonprofits, for-profit companies, large health care systems and religious organizations. ... [The] explosive growth has come with challenges ...

Goals of care among patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers in the last years of life JAMA Network; by Semra Ozdemir, PhD; Isha Chaudhry, MSc, Chetna Malhotra, MD; et al; 4/11/24 Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of patient-caregiver dyads, findings suggested the importance of interventions aimed at reducing discordance in goals of care between patients and caregivers and helping them develop realistic expectations to avoid costly, futile treatments.

Savie Health increasing services Noozhawk, by Ern Shugart; 4/12/24 Savie Health, a free medical clinic in Lompoc providing health, behavioral health, and vision care, is expanding its services to add a Spanish speaking women’s health group and bereavement therapy (in partnership with Hospice of Santa Barbara). Savie’s patient data attests to the need for the clinic’s services: nearly 40% are at least mildly depressed, 20% are severely depressed, and the average income/family size is $22,000 for a family of four.

City-country mortality gap widens amid persistent holes in rural health care access KFF Health News, by Jazmin Orozco Rodriquez; 4/9/24 The health disparities between rural and urban Americans have long been documented, but a recent report from the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found the chasm has grown in recent decades. In their examination, USDA researchers found rural Americans from the ages of 25 to 54 die from natural causes, like chronic diseases and cancer, at wildly higher rates than the same age group living in urban areas. ... In 1999, the natural-cause mortality rate for people ages 25 to 54 in rural areas was only 6% higher than for city dwellers in the same age bracket. By 2019, the gap widened to 43%.

Angela Hospice opening a hospice residence at Lourdes Senior Community in Waterford Detroit Regional Chamber, by Angela Hospice; 4/10/24 Angela Hospice will expand its caring services to the Waterford community and beyond, when it begins operating a 15-bed hospice residence at Lourdes Senior Community this summer and providing additional home hospice services in the area. The non-profit will extend its geographic reach further into north Oakland County, offering additional outreach to benefit all in the community, not just those on hospice care, through transformational grief support groups, educational outreach, and their Good Samaritan program, which serves those who are without insurance or the ability to pay for hospice.

HopeHealth’s expanding scope of pediatric hospice, palliative services Hospice News, by Holly Vossel; 4/8/24 HopeHealth has been growing its pediatric hospice and supportive care service lines in recent years to address a range of unmet needs among seriously ill children and their families. The nonprofit health system serves Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. ... Hospice News recently sat down with pediatrician Dr. Rebecca MacDonell-Yilmaz, medical director of HopeHealth’s pediatric supportive services. 

Anti-DEI initiatives in medicine harm us all MedPage Today - Perspectives; by Aderonke Pederson, MD; 4/9/24I entered into medical school as a top student at the University of Chicago with a high GPA ... and a stellar CV exhibiting strong leadership qualities. I had beaten all odds, despite being a Black orphan migrant with no financial means. Medical school was a grueling process ... I would likely have felt even more socially isolated at my predominantly white institution if not for three essential factors. First, I was welcomed by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) administrators and participants ... Second, I had a dean of DEI who... said, "You can do this, Ronke." Finally, without my deep faith, ... I would not be where I am today. My experience is not unique from other underrepresented physicians of color. Despite this, DEI programs across the country are under attack.

The Sunday Read: 'What deathbed visions teach us about living' New York Times Podcasts, 4/7/24 Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not the sense of mystery he felt at the bedside of his dying father. ... Kerr now calls what he witnessed an end-of-life vision. His father wasn’t delusional, he believes. ... Kerr followed his father into medicine, and in the last 10 years he has hired a permanent research team that expanded studies on deathbed visions to include interviews with patients receiving hospice care at home and with their families, deepening researchers’ understanding of the variety and profundity of these visions.

Dane County Board approves funding for hospice care program for homeless individualsABC TV 27 WKOW, Madison, WI; by Chloe Morrissey; 4/6/24Multiple organizations aiming to combat homelessness received approval for funding after Thursday night's Dane County Board meeting. One organization, Solace Friends, will be receiving $100,000 for the creation of Solace Home. It's a hospice program for housing insecure individuals given less than 6 months to live. The home can serve up to four people at one time who are currently living on the street, in a shelter or an unstable housing situation. 

USDA Rural Development accepting applications for grants to fund high-speed Internet and digital equipment for rural and tribal communitiesU.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, by Leigh Hallet; 4/4/24The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development invites grant applications for two programs that fund broadband access. The Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program helps organizations provide online training, education, and health services. It funds services, training, and equipment to digitally connect people to education, training, and health care resources.

Study shows strong social ties may ease the way for older adults in life's final chapter Medical & Life Sciences, by Vijay Kumar Maleus; 4/4/24  Study Results: ... The analysis revealed that higher levels of loneliness were significantly associated with increased odds of experiencing anxiety, sadness, and pain in the last month of life, suggesting a pivotal link between social isolation and end-of-life symptomatology. Furthermore, marital status and the receipt of personal care were predictors of dying in a hospital, pointing to the influence of social support structures on the location of death. Interestingly, a larger social network was correlated with a higher likelihood of receiving hospice or palliative care, highlighting the potential benefits of broader social connections. 

It’s past time for an upgrade to the Medicare Hospice BenefitHealth Affairs, by Cara L. Wallace and Stephanie P. Wladkowski; 4/5/24When most people think about hospice care, they imagine someone such as the late Rosalynn Carter, who enrolled onto hospice and died within a few days. Jimmy Carter’s long hospice stay, now more than a year, has shown a different model for hospice—one that supports its mission to help people live well, with dignity and quality of life, for whatever time remains. However, current policy restrictions to enroll and remain on hospice make it difficult for many hospice recipients to receive hospice care for “whatever time remains,” as 17.2 percent of Medicare hospice patients are discharged alive. Editor's Note: Many hospices used Jimmy Carter's one-year anniversary as a marketing tool that hospice is not really for the "dying." Many--if not most--of these articles were not transparent in identifying any type of recertification, decertification, or revocation processes. Yes, while it may be past time for CMS to upgrade the Hospice Benefit, it's also past time for hospice marketing to be more transparent with the public.