Literature Review

Arden Home Health & Hospice acquires Mid-Delta Home Health, solidifying its coverage footprint to over 90% of MississippiNewswire, Hattiesburg, Miss.; 5/14/24Arden Hospice is proud to announce its recent acquisition of Mid-Delta Home Health, a 40+ year family-owned, Mississippi business covering predominantly the Mississippi Delta and surrounding areas. As of May 1, 2024, Arden is now the largest home health and hospice company that is proudly owned, headquartered, and operating in the State of Mississippi.

AHA, H-ISAC warn hospitals about Black Basta following Ascension cyberattack Healthcare IT News; by Andrea Fox; 5/13/24 Meanwhile, staff at the health system say they don't have paitent orders and can't page doctors. As it works to restore clinical systems, Ascension says it's working with law enforcement and sharing threat intelligence to help prevent similar attacks. The Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center issued a threat alert Friday about the Russia-backed ransomware group Black Basta, warning of its accelerated attempted attacks against the healthcare sector. Prompted by H-ISAC, the American Hospital Association also sent a cybersecurity advisory with technical mitigation recommendations to its members. ... 

NHPCO and HAN secure significant policy victories in Congress NHPCO; Press Release; 5/10/24This week marked a series of triumphs for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and its advocacy arm, the Hospice Action Network (HAN), in collaboration with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). Notably, the trade associations spearheaded discussions with the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee, resulting in crucial advancements in telehealth flexibility for hospice care. The passage of the “Preserving Telehealth, Hospital, and Ambulance Access Act” through committee signifies a pivotal moment for the future of hospice care. ...HAN’s meticulous engagement with the Ways & Means Committee staff also successfully thwarted potential cuts, safeguarding the capacity of hospices to provide essential care to vulnerable populations. “With an aging population and escalating demand for end-of-life care, particularly in underserved regions, protecting hospice funding is imperative to guarantee compassionate and dignified care for all individuals in their final days,” said NHPCO COO and Interim CEO, Ben Marcantonio.Notable Mentions: Logan Hoover, NHPCO VP of Policy and Government Relations; Dr. Joseph Shega, Vitas' Chief Medical Officer

He thinks his wife died in an understaffed hospital. Now he’s trying to change the industry.Fortune; by KFF Health News and Kate Wells; 4/19/24For the past year, police Detective Tim Lillard has spent most of his waking hours unofficially investigating his wife’s death. The question has never been exactly how Ann Picha-Lillard died on Nov. 19, 2022: She succumbed to respiratory failure after an infection put too much strain on her weakened lungs. She was 65. For Tim Lillard, the question has been why.Publisher's Note: We often discuss workforce shortages in terms of staff stress. This interesting and heartbreaking story explores workforce shortages in terms of patient harm.

Chesapeake Life Center offers monthly LGBTQIA+ drop-in grief support group Southern Maryland News Net; 5/6/24 Chesapeake Life Center will host a monthly drop-in grief support group for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. ... Grief is a hard and vulnerable time, and it is important to have safe spaces to process what we are going through. This group is intended for adult members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are grieving a past or approaching death. The group will be facilitated by a licensed queer therapist but will be loosely structured to offer an opportunity for participants to share their feelings and grieve with community.Editor's Note: Hospice & Palliative Care Today does not post upcoming, local hospice events, grief support groups, volunteer trainings, etc. However, we're posting this LGBTQIA+ grief support ("past or approaching death") due to its profound need and support, with opportunities for replication by other hospices. Pair this support with the article we posted on 4/21/24: LGBTQ+ individuals have higher rates of cancer because of disparities in modifiable risk factors, ACS says. 

Patients, caregivers more willing to spend extra for home-based care, study finds McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 4/30/24 [According to a new study published in JAMA Network Open:] ... On average, respondents were willing to spend an extra $51.81 for care that takes place in the home, compared to facility-based care such such as that in a skilled nursing facility. They were also more willing to pay more for care that can reduce their recovery time or reduce caregivers’ burden. Caregivers, meanwhile, also prioritized higher-quality care, even if it came with a heftier price tag. 

Updated guidance on workplace harassment covers misgendering pronouns, bias over bathroom use, more McKnights Senior Living; by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 5/2/24 Final guidance published last week by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission aims to clarify for employers, employees and others their obligations related to harassment in the workplace. ... This is the first update to the guidance in 25 years, aimed at enforcing more recent changes in federal law. EEOC clarified that harassment by any person — including employers, coworkers, customers and clients — can violate federal law. ... According to the EEOC, the new guidance “updates, consolidates and replaces the agency’s five guidance documents issued between 1987 and 1999 and serves as a single, unified agency resource on EEOC-enforced workplace harassment law.” Among other guidance, the EEOC calls out asking intrusive questions about a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender transition or intimate body parts as forms of harassment.

[Australia] Palliative patients can die peacefully at home with paramedic support, claims proposed frameworkRiotack - Australia; by James Day; 5/6/24A proposed national framework suggests paramedics could help ease pressure on emergency departments by supporting palliative care patients who wish to die at home. Published in the leading international peer reviewed journal Palliative Medicine, the framework seeks to embed palliative care into paramedics’ core business and reduce needless transports to hospital. ... Lead author and trained paramedic Dr. Madeleine Juhrmann developed the framework in consultation with paramedics, palliative care doctors, GPs, carers with lived experience and others. The expert group – representing six countries and all the states of Australia – agreed on the framework’s 32 service changes to standardise best practice for paramedics delivering palliative care in community-based settings.Editor's Note: Pair this solution with related articles in today's newsletter, "Stranded in the ER, seniors await hospital care and suffer avoidable harm" and "How Mass General Brigham provides emergency care at home" (both are in our "Post-Acute" section). 

TCN News Stories of the Month, April 2024TCN Talks; by Chris Comeaux and Mark Cohen; 5/1/24In this podcast Chris and Mark discuss our newsletter's top news stories for the month of April as reported in Hospice and Palliative Care Today. You can subscribe for free here: https://www.hospicepalliativecaretoday.com/registration.

Amedisys to sell 100 locations to advance UnitedHealth group deal Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 5/8/24 Amedisys Inc. has agreed to divest upwards of 100 home health and hospice locations to an undisclosed private equity buyer as the company addresses regulators’ antitrust concerns in its pending acquisition by the UnitedHealth Group’s (UNH) health care services arm Optum. The news came in a recent social media post from The Capitol Forum. Selling off some of Amedisys’ locations in overlapping markets within Optum’s service region may help push the transaction forward amid mounting regulatory concerns. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is mulling a possible lawsuit to block the acquisition, citing potential antitrust issues related to the deal. The concerns center around the ability for other providers to compete if Optum and Amedisy combine their geographic footprints. 

Van Duyne, Blumenauer, 38 lawmakers push CMS on hospice integrityVanDuyne.house.gov; Press Release; 5/8/24Today, Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) led a bipartisan group of 38 lawmakers demanding answers from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the implementation of recent reforms aimed at combatting hospice fraud and abuse. “When electing to receive hospice care, individuals and their families must be confident the provider is committed to delivering individualized, compassionate care that optimizes quality of life; however, we continue to hear about instances of pervasive fraud and abuse,” the lawmakers wrote.  ... To better understand the steps CMS has taken to increase program integrity, the lawmakers continued the letter with detailed questions on the implementation of reforms. Read the full letter here.  ...“Thank you, Representatives Blumenauer and Van Duyne, for your leadership in holding CMS accountable and safeguarding hospice patients and families from fraudulent activities,” said Ben Marcantonio, Interim CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “Preserving the integrity of the Medicare Hospice Benefit is paramount to ensure high-quality care for Americans with serious illness and end-of-life care needs.” 

What every family should know about navigating hospice care: The keys to experiencing a peaceful, gentle, and dignified death Psychology Today; by Bob Uslander, MD; 5/7/24... As a physician with 35 years of experience, including 25 years as an emergency physician and 10 years as a palliative and end-of-life care specialist, I've witnessed firsthand the stark realities of palliative and hospice care.  ... Let me be clear: Hospice care is an enormous benefit to many people, and I am often awed by the level of compassion and commitment I witness among some hospice staff I encounter. Despite this, there are many gaps, the care can be inconsistent, and hospice care is frequently not the appropriate option for people who are encouraged down that path.

Steward files for bankruptcyBecker's Hospital CFO Report; by Laura Dyrda; 5/6/24Dallas, Texas-based Steward Health Care filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will receive millions in financing from Medical Properties Trust to maintain operations at existing hospitals and clinics, according to a May 6 health system news release. The 30 hospitals in the Steward network will continue patient care during the bankruptcy proceedings, and the physician-led health system does not expect interruptions to daily operations. ... The for-profit health system has faced financial challenges and liquidity issues in recent months, blaming low reimbursement from government payers and increasing costs for labor, materials and operations due to inflation. The system also reported continuing to experience negative financial effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.