Literature Review

Wound coding changes bring compliance, legal questions McKnights Long-Term Care News, by Josh Henreckson; 3/5/24 Changes to end-of-life wound classification in a recent Minimum Data Set update should be a positive for long-term care, but regulatory and legal ambiguity still surrounded the new coding procedures at press time. 

Judge: Iowa hospice program told worker to ‘let people die’ Iowa Capital Dispatch, by Clark Kauffman; 3/5/24An Iowa judge has awarded jobless benefits to a hospice worker who allegedly quit after being told to let patients die rather than provide them with services.

Rising suicide risk among seniors due to loneliness, mobility, financial insecurity, study finds McKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 3/5/24As the number of adults over 65 continues to grow, suicide rates among older adults have also been rising, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Between 2008 and 2017, the share of suicide-related emergency department visits among adults 65 years and older more than doubled. These older adults face age-related stressors that can negatively affect mental health, such as declining physical health, reduced mental sharpness, or the loss of friends or loved ones, which can heighten the risk of suicide. 

Ounce of prevention: Is a selling hospice or home health agency ready for the 36-Month Rule? McGuire Woods; 3/4/24Medicare-enrolled hospices and HHAsshould take the following steps toassess and avoid triggering the 36-month rule: [click on the link for content]

Pharmacy associations join forces to advocate for pharmacists during change healthcare outageNewswire Press Release; 3/3/24 Association executives from the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), and the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) released an open letter to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) executives and other insurance payers whose systems may have been impacted by the Change Healthcare outage. Pharmacists and pharmacies are asking for assurances that claims fulfilled during this outage will be paid, and paid in a timely manner, considering the challenges faced by pharmacies and pharmacists with predicting co-payments and determining eligibility and coverage. 

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."

Message from HHS about an ongoing active cybersecurity threat to your IT resourcesEmail from CMS; 3/1/24 Note: This joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) is part of an ongoing #StopRansomware effort to publish advisories for network defenders that detail various ransomware variants and ransomware threat actors. These #StopRansomware advisories include recently and historically observed tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) to help organizations protect against ransomware. Visit stopransomware.gov to see all #StopRansomware advisories and to learn more about other ransomware threats and no-cost resources.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are releasing this joint CSA to disseminate known IOCs and TTPs associated with the ALPHV Blackcat ransomware as a service (RaaS) identified through FBI investigations as recently as February 2024.

How to help elderly parents from a distance: Tech can ease logistical, emotional burden USA Today, by Marc Ramirez; 2/28/24 As a neuropsychologist trained in developing technology for cognitively impaired older adults, Alyssa Weakley’s research at the University of California, Davis, made her acutely aware of the challenges of long-distance caregiving. ... Soon, she and her family found themselves in a position shared by nearly 6 million other Americans, acting as caregivers from a complicated and often distressing distance. According to a 2020 AARP report, long-distance caregivers represent more than 1 in 10 of the country’s estimated 53 million family caregivers, meaning they live an hour or more from their care recipient; on average, they live about 450 miles away. Editor's Note: What systems do you have in place to communicate with and support family members who live long-distance, who never have the opportunity to meet with any hospice team members in person? 

The Medicare Care Choices Model was associated with reductions in disparities in the use of hospice care for Medicare beneficiaries with terminal illnessHealth Serv Res by Matthew J Niedzwiecki, Lauren Vollmer Forrow, Jonathan Gellar, R Vincent Pohl, Arnold Chen, Lynn Miescier, Keith Kranker; 2/29/24 Conclusions: Medicare Choices Model (MCCM) increased hospice use and quality of end-of-life care for model enrollees from underserved groups and reduced disparities in hospice use and having multiple emergency department visits.

Surgeon shares biggest lesson: ‘Never underestimate the power of hope Mofitt Cancer Center, by Corrie Pellegrino; 2/27/24An Interview with Dr. Monica Avila. ...[Question] What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from a patient?[Response] I think the biggest lesson is to never underestimate the power of hope and the power of the patients’ will to live. I’ve had patients literally placed on hospice care who I have taken to the operating room, had successful optimal debulking for ovarian cancer and who are living life right now after chemotherapy. So I never underestimate patients’ ability to keep going and keep living.

The best changes 32 healthcare leaders made this year Becker's Payer Issues, by Rylee Wilson; 2/27/24Question: What is one change you made in the last two years that had great results?Leaders in the payer space are making changes to simplify members' experiences, improve equity and level-up the way their teams work together. The 32 leaders featured in this article, part of an ongoing series, [answered this question].

Racial differences in shared decision-making about critical illnessJAMA Intern Med, by Deepshikha C. Ashana, MD, MBA, MS; Whitney Welsh, PhD; Doreet Preiss, PhD; et al; published online 2/26/24Question: How do critical care clinicians approach shared decision-making with Black compared with White caregivers of critically ill patients?Findings: In a thematic analysis of 39 audio-recorded clinician-caregiver meetings, racial differences were most evident in the following clinician behaviors: providing emotional support to caregivers, acknowledging trust and gratitude expressed by caregivers, disclosing medical information, and validating caregivers' treatment preferences.

Value-based care now driving home-based primary care growth, experts sayMcKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 2/27/24When Independence at Home (IAH), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ home-based primary care initiative, concluded at the end of 2023, after more than a decade, it marked the end of an era. Over the period of the model, the rise of value-based care has given providers a wealth of opportunities to bring primary care into patients’ homes.