Literature Review

Hospice care home provides peaceful place for low-income or homeless to die Indiana Capital Chronicle; by Elise Shrock; 10/10/24 My neighborhood is full of wonderful places. Lovely places where people go to worship, to meet for meals, to do their errands, and, a lovely place to die. Let me explain. Tucked behind the busy near-north Keystone corridor is the Abbie Hunt Bryce Home, a no-cost home for terminally ill individuals who are low-income or homeless and would have no other home to go to during their last days or months of life. Operated by Morning Light, LLC, Abbie Hunt Bryce Home offers critical and compassionate services to Hoosiers in their final days. As the second largest residential hospice in the nation, our state is positioned to be a leader in providing compassionate end-of-life care. Not only is the Home a leader in size and scope, but all hospice residents stay free of charge, with no payment or insurance required. The Home is supported solely by community support and qualifies for Medicaid Waiver. ... [A case study follows with "Systemic challenges in Indiana." ...]

Community making strides to reopen Owatonna's Hospice House Owatonna People's Press, Faribault, MN; by Annie Harman; 10/8/24 ... Allan and Randee Radel smiled as they remembered the days they relied on the Homestead Hospice House to care for Randee’s mother, Kaye Mahlman, during the final days of her life. “It was wonderful. It was good for her, and it was good for the family,” Randee said, looking at the house as visitors strolled inside. ... It has been more than a year since the Hospice House has cared for a patient, but there is movement being made to open the doors once again as a full-service residential hospice care facility. And thanks to the Radels, that dreaming has taken a significant step toward reality. The couple handed over a check this week to the HHH Board to put toward the $850,000 fundraising goal to reopen the house. While the couple has decided they’d rather just call it a “very generous donation,” in lieu of sharing the actual number, those involved in the fundraising efforts are not shy to say with confidence that, thanks to the Radels and others like them, they are making “significant progress” in reaching that goal. ...

Food with love: A Lafayette kitchen provides meals and 'walks that final walk with families' Nola.com; by Catherine S. Comeaux; 10/6/24 Approaching retirement, Kent Zerangue had the idea of running a small catering business in his backyard kitchen. A bowl of gumbo changed those plans. Now, from that kitchen, he and a team of volunteers operate Food With Love — a ministry that brings food, love and guidance to hospice families. ... In 2016, as his own father was in hospice care, a neighbor brought over a shrimp and okra gumbo. It not only comforted and fed the family, but it also set Zerangue to think, “Why not just cook for people and give it away? By 2017, he and his wife Susie began doing just that — first for a friend whose son had a stroke, then another whose husband was terminally ill. Word-of-mouth spread and by the end of that year, they were feeding 10 families. They also began leaving food for families in the freezers at Hospice of Acadiana. Knowing the hospice nurses’ workload didn’t always allow time for food delivery, a hospice volunteer coordinator asked Zerangue if he would like to deliver the meals to families. His initially declined since he was content with just cooking. That is, until he realized that the frozen meals weren’t moving as frequently as he was cooking them. ....Editor's note: What a meaningful ministry that surely makes a difference. This can be easy to adapt for you own hospice. Assess needs. Brainstorm ideas. Find partners and sponsors. As this article's title voices, "walk that final walk with families."

Top News Stories of the Month, September 2024

[CBS Evening News] Home hospice care in the spotlight as former President Jimmy Carter turns 100 CBS Evening News Segment; by Jon LaPook and Winick, anchored by Norah O'Donnell; 9/30/24This past spring, Joan Prum's advanced age and increasing frailty ushered in a new reality when she became a hospice patient. "I thought that unless you were really infirm and bedridden, you wouldn't be a candidate for hospice, but it turns out not to be true," Prum said. Healthcare teams provide comfort to hospice patients expected to live no longer than six months. As with all palliative care, trained professionals offer medication and treatments to decrease pain and increase quality of life. But with hospice, attempts to cure a person's illness are stopped. Connecticut Hospice, which oversees Prum's care, became the first hospice in the nation 50 years ago. Predicting how long somebody has to live is difficult, but CEO Barbara Pearce says the patient and their families make the decision to enter hospice. ... "Hospice care involves sitting down at the very beginning and say, what are your goals of care? What do you want your life to look like in the next few months? And how can we help?" Pearce said. Hospice care can be given in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and places like Connecticut Hospice, but about 99% choose to receive services at home, just like Prum and former President Jimmy Carter. Carter, who turns 100 years old on Tuesday, Oct. 1, is the oldest former president in U.S. history, and has been in home hospice care for the past 19 months.

Mercy House of the Southern Tier breaks grounds for $2 million expansion to enhance end of life care WNBF News Radio; by Traci Taylor; 10/1/24Mercy House of the Southern Tier recently celebrated the groundbreaking of its highly-anticipated $2 million expansion project, marking a significant milestone in its mission to provide compassionate care for terminally ill patients and their families during life's most challenging moments. ... Linda Cerra, the Executive Director of Mercy House of the Southern Tier, expressed gratitude towards their hospice partner, Guthrie Hospice of Vestal, along with the Guthrie and UHS Palliative Care teams, Broome Oncology, BGH PCU, and Endwell Family Physicians. Their unwavering support ensures that residents receive the utmost compassionate end-of-life care, embodying the core values of Mercy House.

Alliance sees Hospice CARE Act as opportunity to advance hospice benefit discussionNHCPO / National Alliance for Care at Home; Press Release; 9/26/24 The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance), a new national organization formed by the integration of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) recognizes the introduction of the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (CARE) Act, by Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-3).  The Alliance shares Rep. Blumenauer’s desire to update the Medicare hospice benefit to address the evolving needs of our country’s aging population while ensuring the sustainability and integrity of the hospice program. As a long-standing champion of hospice care, Rep. Blumenauer has consistently demonstrated a commitment to ensuring that hospice services remain accessible, compassionate, and of the highest quality for patients and their families. The Alliance appreciates Rep. Blumenauer’s commitment to involving a diverse group of stakeholders in developing this legislation and will continue to work closely with congressional leaders on the finer points of the proposed bill to ensure that the final legislation supports the needs of patients, families, and providers alike. 

Longview hospice adds handmade quilt donations under new management The Daily News; by Minka Atkinson; 9/27/24 At PeaceHealth Ray Hickey Hospice House in Vancouver, patients receive handmade quilts to drape their beds that are then donated to their family as a memento after their passing. PeaceHealth is now looking to bring this tradition to Richard Nau Hospice House, which it took over in November. “It gives the home, cozy feeling to those patients,” Hospice Volunteer Program supervisor Jennifer Linde said. The quilts are sourced through donations from local community groups, like the Kalama Quilters and Calvary Community Church, Linde said. Individual quilters are also welcome to contribute. ...

Blumenauer proposes overhaul to Hospice Benefit: If enacted, the legislation would be the single most significant update to the hospice benefit and payment structure since its inception in 1982.U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Washington, DC; Press Release; 9/26/24Today, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform and Enforcement Act (Hospice CARE Act) to modernize Medicare’s hospice benefit, which has remained largely unchanged since its inception in 1982. The proposal comes as egregious reportsof fraud and abuse within the benefit persist, despite action from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The legislation is the product of years of collaboration between stakeholders, lawmakers, and industry leaders. It builds on Blumenauer’s decades-long commitment to ensure the federal government supports families at a time of great stress and vulnerability: the end of life. 

Hospices delve into PACE, dementia care amid calls for change Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 9/25/24 ... Some hospices have dug deeper into the PACE program landscape as an avenue to reach patients further upstream and improve utilization and access. These programs can help hospices provide better coordinated care and help patients and their families navigate a fragmented health care system and complex web of community resources, according to Liz Fowler, president and CEO of Bluegrass Care Navigators. The Lexington, Kentucky-based hospice provider launched a PACE program in 2022. These programs are an opportunity for hospices to evolve end-of-life care models that better address social determinants of health, particularly among some of the most underserved patient populations within their service regions, Fowler stated. “PACE programs are more upstream and will hopefully allow us to care for more individuals earlier on and make connections with more diverse communities earlier as well when they see us as a trusted health care provider,” Fowler said. “The big thing with PACE programs is that they are for individuals with very high needs of complex care, and we readily address all their health care needs but also things like food, isolation and loneliness. ...”

5 signs that quickly identify someone with good leadership skills Inc., by Marcel Schwantes; 9/25/24 Not every person in charge of another person, team, or company is aware of which behaviors motivates and inspires others. Do you agree with this statement? For any human relationship to thrive, it has to be founded on trust. ... Great Place To Work -- the global research consultancy that partners with Fortune to conduct the annual study of those best companies -- has confirmed that trust is the human behavior you cannot afford not to have. It found that 92 percent of employees believe that their managers are people they can trust. ... Not every person in charge of another person, team, or company is aware of which behaviors produce the kind of trust that motivates and inspires others. For those who do, it is a continuous journey of personal development. In their journey, they'll most likely find that trust is only present when certain behaviors are displayed daily. Here are five that I have identified as leading to trust:

‘Think like a reviewer’: How hospices can use communication, documentation to boost quality McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 9/24/24 Regulators are tightening their scrutiny of the hospice industry, so providers must prioritize the documentation and communication practices that help them obtain higher quality scores. That’s according to hospice industry experts who spoke during an educational session at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s annual meeting in Denver. “They’re looking closely at the hospice industry,” Angela Huff, senior managing consultant at Forvis Mazars, said last week during the conference. “They have increasing concerns about fraud, waste and abuse in this space. … Don’t think this is going to stop.” ... A key part of hospice quality assurance is communication, Gallarneau said. Providers should support open, friendly channels of communication. This helps staff and clients feel comfortable raising concerns, making quality issues easier to tackle quickly and effectively. Also, prioritizing accuracy in documentation will help providers stay ready for any surveys or audits, Gallarneau noted. Hospices should ensure patient consent and election of benefit forms are properly filled out, signed and dated, and staff should all be trained to do so accordingly. 

Companies committed to DEI but may talk about it differently: surveyMcKnight's Senior Living; by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 9/19/24Social impact is a growing corporate strategy, even if it isn’t talked about, according to the results of a survey by the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals and YourCause from Blackbaud. “The 2024 results show how the current landscape of corporate social impact is both dynamic and demanding, reflecting a field that is a priority to key stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors and community,” according to ACCP, which surveyed 125 companies in April. Ninety-six percent of the companies reported a continued commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives... DEI has become a polarizing political issue this year, according to ACCP. That doesn’t mean that companies are backing away from their commitments, but they may be changing the way they talk about DEI.Publisher's note: The Louisiana ~ Mississippi Hospice & Palliative Care Organization, a Hospice & Palliative Care Today sponsor, has a Health Disparities and Inequities Taskforce that has completed, among several other things, a Standards of Excellence certification process around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.