Literature Review

Study: AI adoption spends jump among enterprises as eliminating data privacy concerns remains a foremost opportunity for driving long-term growth and ROI BusinessWire, San Francisco, CA; by Kayla Spiess; 8/14/24  Searce, a modern technology consulting firm that empowers businesses to be future-ready, today released its State of AI 2024 report. Polling 300 C-suite and senior technology executives – including Chief AI Officers, Chief Data & Analytics Officers, Chief Transformation Officers, and Chief Digital Officers – from organizations across the US and UK with at least $500 million in revenue, the report examines some of the biggest trends, successes and challenges facing businesses in their decision-making, strategy and execution as they try to unlock AI growth. [Key takeaways:]

Hospices leverage community resources to serve vulnerable homeless populations Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 8/13/24 Hospices are increasingly collaborating with community organizations to better address the end-of-life needs of the homeless population. Isolated homeless senior populations are reaching concerning levels nationwide. Many medical and nonmedical issues can be exacerbated at the end of life among unhoused and homeless seniors compared to others, according to James Patrick Hall, executive director of Rocky Mountain Refuge. The Denver-based nonprofit organization offers shelter for people with end-of-life care needs. ... Homeless populations have increased across the country in recent years, with seniors among those reaching “record-high” volumes and outpacing other demographic groups, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies research recently reported. Editor's Note: For data specific to your state, click here for The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's "The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress."

Letter: Closing Cottage of the Meadow [Hospice House] is a loss for allYakima Herald-Republic, Yakima, WA; by Lee Murdock; 8/13/24, with news post from 8/5/24 [Letter] To the editor — I was devastated to learn that Cottage in the Meadow, our local hospice facility, is ending hospice care. Both of my parents were fortunate enough to spend their final days in this serene and caring environment. The difference between the overrun hospital setting with its short staffing and the compassionate, individualized care at Cottage in the Meadow was stark. This facility provided invaluable support not only to those at the end of life but also to their families. As our population ages, the need for such services will only increase. Studies have shown that hospice care can reduce healthcare costs by up to 30% compared to traditional hospital care (Journal of Palliative Medicine). Additionally, hospice care significantly reduces hospital readmissions and emergency room visits, further reducing healthcare costs (JAMA). In a healthcare system with ample profit margins, ensuring access to hospice care is the least we can do. ...Editor's Note: This letter to the editor was in response to Yakima Herald-Republic's 8/5/24 article, "Yakima's Cottage in the Meadow will close its hospice house. It will reopen as a skilled nursing facility."

Free CHAP Webinar: CMS Posts Final Hospice Rule - Quality changes and regulatory requirement Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP); taught by Dr. Jennifer Kennedy; posted 8/13/24, webinar will be 8/21/24, 1:00-2:00 pm EDTCMS posted the final rule for hospice providers which drives big changes into motion for 2025.  [Click here for the] Final FY 2025 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update/Quality Reporting Rule  (CMS-1810-F), posted on the Federal Register on August 7, 2024. This free webinar will be taught by Jennifer Kennedy, Vice President, Quality, Compliance and Standards, CHAP. She spent many years as a leader and nurse in diverse healthcare settings with the past 25 years in hospice and palliative care. Dr. Kennedy came to CHAP in 2021 with a vision of moving the organization’s quality forward as “the” accreditation partner of choice for the majority of community-based providers. She believes no matter what type of care a patient receives or how many times they receive care, every experience should be of the highest quality. Webinar Objectives:

Transforming healthcare: Enabling change through tailored change management strategies Healthcare Dive; by Brad Cauthen and Jenny Denver, and Scott Madden; 8/12/24In the fast-paced and demanding healthcare environment, where every moment focuses on patient care, introducing and managing operational changes—such as implementing a new system or altering an existing process—can be particularly challenging. ... Here are some tips for creating effective change management initiatives tailored to the operational realities of the healthcare setting and fostering a change-ready environment. ...

Following the CrowdStrike outage, healthcare stresses the importance of prevention HealthCare Brew; by Cassie McGrath; 7/25/24... [The recent CrowdStrike outage] affected millions across all sorts of industries, from healthcare to travel. ... However, amid the chaos, what has largely gone untold are stories of the companies that emerged unscathed. And within those unaffected companies lies a lesson for others, according to Andrew Molosky, president and CEO of Tampa-based Chapters Health System. ... “We’ve really focused on business continuity, redundancies, safety nets, and understanding of the difference between cybersecurity as a task and cybersecurity as a cultural commitment of your organization,” Molosky said. ... These investments, Molosky said, included protocols for documenting on paper, using a backup application that provides patient information when electronic medical records and other systems are offline, and allowances for bringing in personal devices to use if company devices go down. 

‘Good’ death different for everyone Altoona Mirror, Altoona, PA; 7/26/24 The social and economic inequities patients suffer in life often shapes their death” was a key point of a July 13-14 article in the Review section of the Wall Street Journal. ... In the article, which was written by Dr. Sunita Puri, a palliative care physician and the author of “That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour,” Puri focuses on the conundrum many families face when dealing with the question of where to spend the final days of life. ... “New research classifies the rise in home deaths as progress,” the message immediately under the article’s headline begins, “but we need to look more closely at what these deaths look like.” ... Puri, now 10 years into her physician career, says it is now clear to her that there is much more to a “good” death than where it occurs. “Presuming a home death is a success obscures important questions about the process,” she wrote. “Did this person die comfortably? Did their caregivers have the resources and guidance they needed? Was dying at home a choice or simply the only option?” 

Skagit Regional Health nurses five months into contract negotiations Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon, WA; 7/27/24 Nurses at Skagit Regional Health have been negotiating a new contract for nearly five months. Their latest contract ended May 31. The contract covers more than 600 registered nurses at Skagit Valley Hospital, its clinics and at Hospice of the Northwest, said Skagit Regional Health nurse Liz Rainaud, who is the local chair of the nurses' union, the Washington State Nurses Association. She said the nurses at Skagit Regional are the lowest paid in the region. During the most recent negotiating session July 9, tentative agreements were made on items such as bonus shifts, shift rotation, calculation of shift differential and sick leave accumulation. 

The bereavement care crisis in hospice facilities MedCity News; by Cara McCarty Abbott; 7/28/24 Bereavement care is an essential part of the hospice experience, designed to support those coping with loss. Bereavement care is not just a compassionate gesture; it is a critical component of the hospice care continuum. So why is it so underserved in the U.S.? ... Instead of pushing harder on hospice providers to find more ways to deliver comprehensive bereavement care with less, it's key to address the systemic forces hampering their ability to deliver quality care at the scale required and address these challenges. Editor's Note: Additionally, does your hospice still rely on the misnamed, overused "5 Stages of Grief"? These were determined from 1960's persons who were dying, not from bereaved persons who live on--surviving--the death. Extensive fresh, contemporary, hospice-designed grief resources to support bereavement counselors and the persons they serve are provided by Composing Life Out of Loss, a sponsor for our newsletter.

Hospices strategize sustainable growth for Veteran Programs Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 7/26/24 Hospices combat both operational and financial challenges as they seek to grow and evolve their veteran programs around the diverse and complex needs of patients and their families. Some of the largest expenses associated with offering veteran services include staffing and training costs ... In addition to staff training, this includes having ways to honor veterans for their service, assess the social determinant of health resources they may need and identify gaps of caregiver support. ...Editor's Note: Notable mentions include Carlos Graveran, executive director at Maryland-based Frederick Health Hospice; Sherri Bickley, vice president of patient support services at Oklahoma-based Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care; and Carla Creegan, PACE director of clinical services and director of adult day swervices at Empath Health.

Can Artificial Intelligence speak for incapacitated patients at the end of life? JAMA Internal Medicine; by Teva D. Brender, MD; Alexander K. Smith, MD; Brian L. Block, MD; 7/22/24 Viewpoint: Imagine meeting with the daughter of a critically ill patient. The patient (her mother) had a cardiac arrest, is in multiorgan failure, and cannot communicate. The daughter is uncomfortable making decisions because they are estranged and never discussed what her mother would want in this type of situation. The patient has no advance directive or alternative surrogate. Now imagine this meeting taking place in a future where the mother’s medical visits have been audio recorded. Furthermore, you have access to an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can identify and play excerpts of the mother talking about what mattered most to her. You and the daughter listen to these recordings together. Then you share that another algorithm, trained on 7 million patient records, predicts that the mother’s chance of walking again is less than 5%. ...

Salvation Army in Lufkin, Harbor Hospice, and other businesses hold ‘Beat the Heat’ fan drive ABC KTRE TV9, Lufkin, TX; by Vanessa Johnson; 7/21/24 “We have a fan drive going on right now from July 1st to July the 31st,” Amy Allen, the director of nursing with Harbor Hospice in Lufkin, said. The fan drive is for those in both Angelina and Nacogdoches counties that need one but do not have the means to get one. ... “They have no resources, they have no money, they have no way to get this. During the hurricane I know we all suffered from the heat, and we felt what they feel like daily,” Jenny Wright, the volunteer coordinator at Harbor Hospice, said.