Literature Review

Former Kentucky hospital nurse charged with patient credit card fraud Becker's Hospital Review; by Alan Condon; 7/2/24 A nurse previously employed by Baptist Hospital East in Louisville, Ky., was arrested July 1 for allegedly using patients' stolen credit cards, according to ABC affiliate WHAS. Kentucky State Police charged Lauren Miller with stealing two or more patients' credit cards and fraudulently using those cards, according to the report. Ms. Miller allegedly used the credit cards for purchases totaling more than $1,000 between Nov. 27 and Dec. 7. ... "She is not employed by Baptist Health. In accordance with federal privacy laws, we are unable to share any additional information," a spokesperson for the hospital told Becker's. 

DME Service Solutions joins the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) OpenPR - Worldwide Public Relations; Press release from DEM Service Solutions; 7/4/24DME Service Solutions, a provider of B2B outsourcing solutions specializing in healthcare, is pleased to announce its partnership with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). This partnership allows DME Service Solutions to engage with a community dedicated to advancing quality care and operational efficiency in the home care and hospice industry. NAHC represents the home care and hospice community, advocating for accessible and affordable care. By partnering with NAHC, DME Service Solutions connects with a network of professionals focused on effective home care solutions. This partnership provides access to the latest information and in-depth analysis of industry trends, which is essential for staying aligned with current industry needs. NAHC also offers educational programs that will help DME Service Solutions enhance staff expertise and continuously improve service quality.

Grief care efforts should include settings outside of hospice, provider group say McKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 7/3/24 If standards are developed for high-quality bereavement and grief care, they must apply to settings outside of traditional hospice care, such as affordable senior housing, where there is a “critical lack” of mental health services. That’s according to LeadingAge, which submitted comments last week to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on a draft report from a research project that will inform an independent panel that will develop standards for high-quality bereavement and grief care. Katy Barnett, LeadingAge director of home care and hospice operations and policy, highlighted the need for cross-continuum grief and bereavement assessments, interventions and resources, including in settings outside of traditional hospice care, such as affordable senior housing.

Senior care experts detail how to build a coveted ‘destination workplace’ McKnights Home Care; by Josh Henreckson; 6/27/24 Faced with today’s complex array of financial, staffing and regulatory challenges, senior care operators need to rely on a broad range of workplace solutions, a panel of experts said. ... Providers should be actively listening to their employees’ needs and trying to meet the evolving desires of the labor market, they emphasized at McKnight’s “Meeting of the Minds” thought-leader discussion. This must take place whether they’re pursuing recruiting strategies, trying to improve staff retention, integrating new technological advances or investing in new benefits and professional development. “The one area that’s going to undergird everything for your success is paying attention to the most important capital, which is human capital,” said Navin Gupta, CEO at software provider Viventium. “Pay attention to the caregiver experience from recruitment … to retention to recognition and development — the entire journey."

Fixing the hospital-to-home health care transition Home Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 6/25/24 The transition between hospital discharge and home health care is often fraught with issues. Unfortunately, it also happens to be one of the most crucial parts of a patient’s care journey. With more sick and complex patients coming into home health care than ever, a swift start of home health care is also arguably more important than ever. ... The Discharge to Assess (D2A) Model was a response to this issue in England. The Supporting Older Adults at Risk (SOAR) program, following a similar framework to D2A, was also recently established in the U.S. A study of SOAR’s results within a pilot program in Pennsylvania was recently published in the Journal for Healthcare Quality.

20 most socially responsible hospitals, per Lown Institute Becker's Hospital Review; by Mackenzie Bean; 6/25/24 Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, N.C., is the most socially responsible acute care hospital in the U.S., according to a June 25 ranking from Lown Institute. The nonpartisan healthcare think tank assessed more than 2,700 acute care hospitals and 800 critical access hospitals nationwide across 54 metrics related to health equity, value of care and patient outcomes. ... The 20 most socially responsible acute care hospitals in the U.S., per Lown Institute:

36 hospitals, health systems cutting jobs Becker's Hospital CFO Report; by Kelly Gooch; updated 6/21/24 A number of hospitals and health systems are reducing their workforces or jobs due to financial and operational challenges. Below are workforce reduction efforts or job eliminations announced this year.  June:

University Hospitals to cut more than 300 positions Modern Healthcare; by Paige Bennett; 6/19/24 University Hospitals is eliminating more than 300 positions amid challenges in the healthcare industry. The health system announced Wednesday, June 19, that it was reducing its leadership structure by more than 10% as part of an organizational reset. The move comes at a time when healthcare systems across the U.S. are grappling with rising costs and labor shortages. UH Chief Operating Officer Dr. Paul Hinchey said in a phone interview with Crain’s that the cuts focused on leadership and support services, not frontline workers. Affected employees began being notified by the health system on Monday, he said. The health system said the vast majority of the cuts were non-clinical and will not impact patient care. The move “complements a plan over the past three years to increase efficiency, consolidate service lines and close hospitals in Bedford and Richmond Heights,” according to UH. 

Private equity, consolidation divide aging services sector as multi-agency effort gets underwayMcKnight's Long-Term Care News; by Kimberly Marselas, Kimberly Bonvissuto; 6/10/24While some aging services providers last week warned that more scrutiny of healthcare consolidation and rules that seek to limit it further could create “unintended consequences,” others encouraged three federal agencies to proceed with promised work on the issue. Private equity ownership is associated with increases in short-term mortality of Medicare patients, as well as declines in other quality measures of patient well-being, and reductions in staffing, services, supplies, or equipment, said LeadingAge, in comments authored by Jonathan Lips, vice president of Legal Affairs, citing research. They also acknowledged that another study using the government’s own data showed PE’s stake in the skilled nursing sector had declined to just 5% by 2022. Further research showed that slowdown persisted into 2023.

Acting now to sustain and improve America’s healthcare system: Advice from innovative physicians and health system leadersSheppardMullin Healthcare Law Blog; by Kathleen O'Neill, John Golembesky, Jeralin Cardoso, Chi Huynh & Carolyn Young; 6/6/24 At [the recent] America’s Physician Groups Spring conference in San Diego, California, we listened as physicians and health system leaders described the ways in which they are responding to short and long term challenges to the sustainability of America’s healthcare system in its current form. It now stands at a critical juncture, facing challenges such as provider shortages and burnout, increasing concerns around access and cost for pharmaceutical products and other supplies, the increasing burden of managing chronic diseases, rising demand for services across the spectrum from an aging population, and balancing the transition to value-based care models in a predominantly fee-for-service environment. ... Here, we outline the key areas of focus described by leaders at the conference: ... 

Personal conflicts, even violence, are not uncommon in long-term care The New York Times; by Paula Span; 6/9/24... In long-term care facilities, residents sometimes yell at or threaten one other, lob insults, invade fellow residents’ personal or living space, rummage through others’ possessions and take them. They can swat or kick or push. Or worse. Eilon Caspi, a gerontologist at the University of Connecticut, has searched news coverage and coroners’ reports and identified 105 resident deaths in long-term care facilities over 30 years that resulted from incidents involving other residents. The actual number is higher, he said, because such deaths don’t always receive news media attention or are not reported in detail to the authorities. “We have this extraordinary paradox: the institutions, nursing homes and assisted livings who care for the most vulnerable members of our society are some of the most violent in our society,” said Karl Pillemer, a Cornell University gerontologist who has studied resident-to-resident conflict for years. [Click on the article's title for more. Might require subscription to access the full article.]

Higher sepsis mortality in safety-net hospitals linked to fewer post-discharge care options Contagion Live - Infectious Diseases Today; by Kenneth Bender, PharmD, MA; 6/9/24 Purportedly higher sepsis mortality in safety-net hospitals reflects less a difference in acute care than opportunities to discharge to hospice. By extending the measure of sepsis-related mortality from in-hospital events to occurrences within 30 days after the diagnosis, the purported higher mortality rate of sepsis treated in safety-net hospitals decreased to parity with non-safety-net hospitals, in a retrospective national cohort study. The investigators note the particular challenges of safety-net hospitals, which care for a disproportionately high share of low-income and underinsured patients, include fewer resources and narrower operating margins, as well as patient populations with decreased access to preventative care and more complex disease presentations.