Literature Review

Palliative Care as ‘Personalized Medicine’Hospice News, by Jim Parker; 3/18/24The term “personalized medicine” is often used to describe health needs based on a patient’s genetics. However, more stakeholders are applying the term to palliative care. Personalized medicine is a step away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to health care. The model uses information gathered from a patient’s genome to plan for care, treatment and services, and to some extent, predict a likely health trajectory, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Palliative Care integration on the rise Hospice News, by Jim Parker; 3/13/24A range of medical specialties are incorporating palliative care principles into their care models. The trend points to ways that patients might receive palliative services through new avenues, such as geriatrics, primary care or home health care. 

Telehealth preferences among patients with advanced cancer in the post COVID-19 vaccine eraJournal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Kawoswi K Shih, MD; Adrienne B Arechiga; Xi Chen PhD; Diana L. Urbauer, MS; Aline Rozman De Moraes, MD; Ashley J Rodriquez; Lisa Thomas; Penny A Stanton; Eduardo Bruera, MD; and David Hui MD; 3/10/24 Background: Few studies have examined patient preferences for telehealth in palliative care after the availability of COVID-19 vaccines. We examined patient preferences for video versus in-person visits and factors contributing to preferences in the post-vaccine era. Conclusion: Patients expressed strong preference for video over in-person visits in the outpatient palliative care setting.

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue opens new Palliative Care Serenity Unit for patients and families NYC Health+Hospitals Press Release; 3/7/24 NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue today announced the opening of a new Palliative Care Serenity Unit for patients and families. ... “We created the Serenity Unit because we noted an increasing number of patients either spending their dying days at the hospital or in need of extra support and symptom management expertise that palliative care provides,” said Susan E. Cohen, MD, director of the Palliative Care Program at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue. “We want to ensure that patients who are here in their final days are being treated with dignity and expertise.”Editor's Note: NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is the oldest hospital in America, tracing their roots back to 1736 when a six-bed infirmary opened on the second floor of the New York City Almshouse.

Editorial: Illness trajectories in the age of big data The BMJ; by Peter Tanuseputro, Colleen Webber, and James Downar; 3/1/24For decades, healthcare providers have understood that patients follow typical trajectories of health decline as they approach the end of life, and they have used this understanding to help patients and families anticipate the dying process. Traditional trajectories focus on function or overall health status and include sudden death, terminal illness ..., organ failure ..., and frailty ... Two Education articles in the BMJ add novel dimensions to our understanding of health decline. Murray et al explain how declines in function do not always mirror declines in social, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. They also add a new trajectory, multimorbidity, to describe a person with conditions from multiple trajectories (such as heart disease from organ failure and cognitive impairment from frailty).

Primary care physician's next frontier: Palliative careMedscape, by Larry Beresford; 3/5/24Palliative care, a medical specialty that focuses on clarifying the treatment goals of seriously ill patients, helping with end-of-life planning, and emphasizing pain and symptom management, has been growing in recent years. Already well-established in most US hospitals, it is also expanding in community settings, often as an extension of hospice programs. Now, by adding primary care physicians and practices to their service mix, palliative care groups are better meeting the needs of a neglected — and costly — population of frail elders.

Palliative care gets spotlight in assisted dying report Nursing Times, by Edd Church; 3/1/24A debate around assisted dying has brought hospices into the spotlight, as a new report on the matter has been published.

Debate intensifies over palliative care's reach: Wootton vs. Finlay's divergent viewsThe Wall Street Journal, by Getta Pillai; 2/29/24Discover the differing perspectives of Sarah Wootton and Dr. Ilora Finlay on the effectiveness of palliative care. Gain insights into the challenges and potential solutions in end-of-life care.

Home-based palliative care shows promise in reducing ER visits, hospitalizationsHome Health Care News, by Patrick Filbin; 2/28/24Patients who receive home-based palliative care (HBPC) services experience fewer emergency department visits, fewer hospitalizations and lower costs once they start receiving services. That’s according to a recent study conducted by the West Health Research Institute of Blue Shield of California.

Bilingual patient navigation can improve palliative care outcomes for Hispanic patients Hospice News, by Holly Vossel; 2/28/24Bicultural and bilingual palliative patient navigator interventions may be a key to improving access to goal concordant care among Hispanic populations with serious illness, according to recent research. Researchers in a recent clinical trial sought to address whether integration of bilingual patient navigation interventions could improve palliative care outcomes in Hispanic patients with serious, noncancer illnesses.

Palliative care startups require creativity, flexibility Hospice News, by Audrie Marton; 2/27/24 According to the World Health Organization, each year, an estimated 56.8 million people need palliative care. Worldwide, only about 14% of people who need this care currently receive it. ... Tiffany Hughes, chief operating officer of Texas-based PalliCare, found that the secret to a successful palliative care model is creating a continuum of care between home health and hospice for patients within the last 18 to 24 months of life.

Sierra Community Palliative Care receives generous seed funding grant from Dignity Health Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital YubaNet.com, by Hospice of the Foothills; 2/27/24 In a significant affirmation of its commitment to compassionate care, Dignity Health Sierra Nevada Memorial, through Common Spirit Community Health, awards Hospice of the Foothills’ Sierra Community Palliative Care a $94,000 seed funding grant. Sierra Community Palliative Care led by Hospice of the Foothills is a collaborative program that includes primary healthcare providers, healthcare clinics, and the local hospital to bring comprehensive palliative services to Nevada County [CA]. 

Growing palliative care a key priority for Amedisys in 2024 Hospice News, by Jim Parker; 2/23/24Amedisys is pushing forward on palliative care growth in 2024 through its innovation arm, Contessa. The company acquired Contessa in 2021 for $250 million. ... The company has been making substantial investments in building out its palliative care services, particularly through risk-based contracts.