Literature Review

A professional’s perspective: Ageism within the healthcare system; does it exist? Northern Kentucky Tribune; by Jeff Rubin; 7/6/24 A friend of mine named Dee recently shared with me a particularly unpleasant experience she had with a young hospital discharge planner regarding her 97-year-old mom in California. It appears Dee had a heck of a time trying to get her mom discharged to home health care rather than hospice, even though the particular care she needed could have been better delivered at home. A geriatrician by training, Dee ... recognized the invaluable role of hospice in providing end-of-life care. However, the situation she found herself in was less a question of end-of-life and more of palliative care. ...  A recent study in the US sampling 2,035 individuals between 50 and 80 years of age revealed that 93.4% experienced ageism firsthand. Their perception extended to professionals like doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, and psychologists whose services included working with older people. [Click on the title's link for significant data, descriptions, and resources.]

Your brain holds secrets. Scientists want to find them. The New York Times; by Paula Span; 7/6/24 About a month ago, Judith Hansen popped awake in the predawn hours, thinking about her father’s brain. Her father, Morrie Markoff, was an unusual man. At 110, he was thought to be the oldest in the United States. His brain was unusual, too, even after he recovered from a stroke at 99. Now he was nearing death, enrolled in home hospice care. “In the middle of the night, I thought, ‘Dad’s brain is so great,’” said Ms. Hansen, 82, a retired librarian in Seattle. “I went online and looked up ‘brain donation.’” Her search led to a National Institutes of Health web page explaining that its NeuroBioBank, established in 2013, collected post-mortem human brain tissue to advance neurological research. ...

Cooper University Health acquires New Jersey system Becker's Hospital Reivew; by Alan Condon; 7/1/24 Cooper University Health Care on July 1 completed the acquisition of  Cape May, NJ-based Cape Regional Health System. As part of the closing, Cape Regional Medical Center has been renamed Cooper University Hospital Cape Regional. The combined health system comprises two hospitals with more than 900 beds, 130 ambulatory sites and almost 11,000 employees, including over 1,000 physicians. It is projected to have revenue exceeding $2.2 billion a year. The transaction unlocks significant growth opportunities, particularly in the outpatient market, as healthcare continues its shift away from inpatient settings, Camden, N.J.-based Cooper CFO Brian Reilly told Becker's. 

38 hospitals, health systems cutting jobsBecker's Hospital CFO Report; by Kelly Gooch; 6/28/24 A number of hospitals and health systems are reducing their workforces or jobs due to financial and operational challenges. [Listed] are workforce reduction efforts or job eliminations announced this year [by Becker's]. June:

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.

In a 1st at ChristianaCare, physicians vote to unionize Becker's Hospital Review; by Kelly Gooch; 7/1/24 Physicians at ChristianaCare locations in Delaware and Maryland voted to join the Doctors Council, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. ... The decision marks the first attending physician union in Delaware, the first union at ChristianaCare, and the largest union of private sector physicians in the U.S., according to the Doctors Council. Union representatives said the physicians' decision is a response to ongoing concerns about corporatization and their professional autonomy.

A palliative care curriculum may promote resident self-reflection and address moral injury The Journal of Surgical Research; by Shruti Koti, Lyudmyla Demyan, Danielle Deperalta, Sophia Tam, Gary Deutsch; 6/22/24 online ahead of print Introduction: There is a lack of formal palliative care education for surgical trainees, and the demanding nature of surgical training and exposure to challenging clinical scenarios can contribute to moral injury. We developed a palliative care curriculum to promote self-reflection, aiming to address moral injury in residents.Conclusions: The described palliative care curriculum accomplishes several goals as follows: it educates residents on palliative care topics, teaches communication tools, encourages self-reflection, and provides space for building peer relationships. The ease of implementation makes this curriculum applicable across various types of institutions, offering the potential to positively impact surgical training on a national scale.

Health system C-suites expanding Becker's Hospital Review - Leadership & Management; by Laura Dyrda; 6/18/24 Health system C-suites are evolving to meet the changing needs and priorities of the organization. Roles focused on the patient experience, sustainability and health equity are on the rise. Large and small health systems are revamping their C-suites to tackle new projects and oversee emerging areas of growth. Others are elevating clinical and IT leaders as their core accountabilities become an essential aspect of hospital strategy moving forward. Here are five emerging roles at health systems across the country.

HHS to impose penalties on providers that block patients’ health information McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 6/24/24In a bid to promote easier access and exchange of patients’ health records, the Department of Health and Human Services published a final rule Monday outlining penalties for providers that block access to electronic health information. ... Fragmented and inaccessible patient data can prevent long-term and post-acute care providers from seeing the full picture of a patients’ health. Hospitals, for example, are not required to share updates about a patient’s health with the patient’s post-acute care provider. As a result, home health and home care agencies frequently cannot access patients’ electronic health records to help assess and treat patients. Three disincentives: ... First, hospitals that commit information blocking can be subject to a reduction of three quarters of an annual market basket update. Second, clinicians eligible for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System will receive a zero score in the “promoting interoperability performance” MIPS category, which can be equivalent to roughly a quarter of the clinician’s MIPS score in a given year. Lastly, providers that participate in information blocking can have their Medicare Shared Savings Program or Accountable Care Organization eligibility revoked for at least one year. ...Editor's Note: Almost any solution raises additional challenges. How does HIPAA interface with this? How might a cyberattack at a hospital (or other healthcare agency) affect the patients' other agencies, putting them at risk as well?

48 health systems with strong finances Becker's Hospital CFO Report; by Andrew Cass; 6/20/24 Here are 48 health systems with strong operational metrics and solid financial positions, according to reports from credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service released in 2024. Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Health systems were compiled from credit rating reports. [Click on the title's link for the list.] Editor's Note: This list is from larger "health systems," and does not reflect stand-alone hospice and palliative organizations.

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. 

More COVID-19 patients died in understaffed hospitals, new data showUniversity of Minnesota [reported by KFF Health News]; by Stephanie Soucheray, MA; 6/13/24A new study in the International Journal of Nursing Studies suggests chronically understaffed US hospitals had higher rates of COVID-19 patient deaths early in the pandemic. "Our study found that individuals' likelihood of surviving was related to hospitals' investments in nursing services prior to the pandemic—in terms of hiring sufficient numbers of RNs, employing nurses with bachelor's educational preparation, and sustaining favorable work environments," said Karen Lasater, PhD, RN, the lead author of the study, in a press release from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The study was based on outcomes seen among 87,000 Medicare enrollees (ages 65 to 99) hospitalized with COVID-19 from April through December 2020 in 237 general acute-care hospitals in New York and Illinois. ... Overall, the average age of patients was 78 years, and 31.5 % died within 30 days of admission, with 23% of those patients dying during the hospitalization.