Literature Review

Why hospital executives think Walmart Health failed Becker's Health IT; by Giles Bruce; 5/1/24 Health system leaders told Becker's they're not surprised by the failure of Walmart Health given the arduous economics of healthcare and the difficulty of providing primary care at scale.Walmart said April 30 it would be closing its 51 Walmart Health Centers and virtual care offerings five years into its foray into healthcare. The company cited the "challenging reimbursement environment" and "escalating operating costs" that left its healthcare arm unprofitable.

OSF launches new tools to help make end-of-life planning easier News25, Peoria, IL; by Liz Lape; 4/26/24 OSF Healthcare reports that thousands of patients are dying in medical facilities without end-of-life care plans. ... Sarah Overton, Chief Officer of Nursing, describes that studies show that over 70% of patients would prefer a setting other than a hospital to spend their last moments, like at home hospice or palliative care. OSF has launched self-service resources such as an Advanced Careplanning page and Patient Questionnaire on their app MyChart. Overton says the goal is to make end-of-life care planning more available to the public.

E-book: "Combating loneliness in senior living residents: A call to action"McKnights Senior Living; 4/24/24Discover in [this] e-book:

Being seen as a unique person is essential in palliative care at home and nursing homes: A qualitative study with patients and relativesAmerican Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Katrin Kochems, MSc, Everlien de Graaf, RN, PhD, Ginette M. Hesselmann, RN, MSc, and Saskia C. C. M. Teunissen, RN, PhD; 4/6/24Conclusion: In both primary care and nursing home care, patients and relatives expressed the same essential elements of palliative care. They emphasized the importance of being recognized as a unique person beyond their patient status, receiving honest and clear information aligned with their preferences, and having care organized to ensure continuity. Adequate competence and skills are needed, together with a care organization that enables continuity to provide safe and person-centered care.

Comment: Rule must change to allow dialysis as end-of-life care HeraldNet, by Matthew Rivara and Mackenzie Daniek; 4/13/24More than 1 in 7 American adults live with chronic kidney disease, making it one of the most common chronic disease conditions in the United States. ... Medicare will generally not reimburse health care providers for dialysis treatments if a patient has elected to enter hospice care, as dialysis treatments are considered by Medicare to be “curative” rather than “palliative” care. Because of this, most patients getting dialysis for ESRD must forego all dialysis treatment after entering a hospice program.

5 things to know about the Waud capital-backed Senior Helpers Home Health Care News, by Andrew Donlan; 4/8/24 One of the biggest home-based care deals of the year thus far was Waud Capital’s acquisition of Senior Helpers. The Maryland-based franchise – which was previously owned by the health system Advocate Health – will be the foundation of Waud Capital’s home care platform moving forward. Overseeing that platform will be Steve Jakubcanin, the home-based care veteran and former CEO of Cornerstone Healthcare Group. Here are five important things to know about Senior Helpers as it takes a different direction under new ownership.

Reminder: April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day The Conversation Project, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; ongoing until 4/16/24[Read for] specific ideas and suggestions for ways to implement National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) activities in your community and at your facility. First and foremost, lead by example…be sure you have thoughtfully considered and made your own healthcare decisions known. Editor's Note: from The Conversation Project's "About Us": "The Conversation Project began 2010, when Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ellen Goodman and a group of colleagues and concerned media, clergy, and medical professionals gathered to share stories of 'good deaths' and 'hard deaths' within their own circle of loved ones."

Elevating quality, outcomes, and patient experience through Value-Based Care: CMS Innovation Center’s Quality PathwayNEJM Catalyst; by Susannah M. Bernheim, MD, MHS; Noemi Rudolph, MPH; Jacob K. Quinton, MD, MPH; Julia Driessen, PhD; Purva Rawal, PhD; and Elizabeth Fowler, PhD, JD; 4/3/24The U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is launching a new Quality Pathway to elevate patient-centered quality goals in the design and evaluation of alternative payment models. The Quality Pathway will align model design around quality goals; elevate outcomes and experience measures, particularly patient-reported outcomes; and ensure that evaluations have the ability to assess the impact of models on primary quality goals. These determinations will help the Innovation Center make critical decisions about which models to scale or expand in the pursuit of improving the quality of care for people with Medicare and Medicaid.

The burden of getting medical care can exhaust older patients Navigating Aging, by Judith Graham; 3/27/24 [Ishani Ganguli] is the author of a new study showing that Medicare patients spend about three weeks a year having medical tests, visiting doctors, undergoing treatments or medical procedures, seeking care in emergency rooms, or spending time in the hospital or rehabilitation facilities. ... [Additionally,] more than 1 in 10 seniors, including those recovering from or managing serious illnesses, spent a much larger portion of their lives getting care — at least 50 days a year. ... When [treatment burden becomes overwhelming], people stop following medical advice and report having a poorer quality of life, the researchers found.

Home-focused PACE model continues to gain traction across US Home Health Care News, by Joyce Famakinwa; 3/19/24 A Georgia House Bill that would create a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) was passed by the state senate earlier this month. House Bill 1078 passed in a 49 to 1 senate vote.Specifically, the bill creates a new adult day center licensure exclusion in order to authorize the Department of Community Health to establish and implement PACE in Georgia as part of the state’s medical assistance program. The Department of Community Health would manage the program. 

Police identify 13 deaths at unlicensed Arlington, Mansfield group homes since 2022 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, by James Hartley; 3/14/24 At least 13 people have died since 2022 under the care of a woman who was running five unlicensed group homes in North Texas, police wrote in a warrant to search one of the homes. ... Regla “Su” Becquer, 49, was arrested Monday and charged with one count of abandoning or endangering an individual creating imminent danger of bodily injury. ... Police have said more charges are expected in their ongoing investigation. Search warrants obtained by the Star-Telegram, written by Detectives Krystallyne Robinson and Devon Coffer, show police believe the abuse was extensive.

Costs of long-term care: ‘Financial ruin is baked into the system’ KFF Health News, by Jordan Rau and Reed Abelson; 3/9/24 Thousands of readers reacted to the articles in the “Dying Broke” series about the financial burden of long-term care in the United States. They offered their assessments for the government and market failures that have drained the lifetime savings of so many American families. And some offered possible solutions. In more than 4,200 comments, readers shared their struggles in caring for spouses, older parents, and grandparents. They expressed anxieties about getting older themselves and needing help to stay at home or in institutions like nursing homes or assisted living facilities.

Seniors more likely to let conditions escalate into emergency if their only care options are digital, poll finds McKnights Senior Living, by Aaron Dorman; 3/7/24 Although residents in senior living communities and nursing homes are becoming more accepting of artificial intelligence and other tools such as remote monitoring systems, that doesn’t mean they don’t still strongly prefer human caregivers to manage their healthcare needs, a recent poll finds. ... Among older adult survey respondents who had dealt with a recent emergency, 33% said that they felt as if the incident could have been averted if they had had access to a live, in-person caregiver to manage their health concerns and needs.