Literature Review

Palliative care considerations in frail older adults Annals of Palliative Medicine; by Andrew E Russell, Rachel Denny, Pearl G Lee, Marcos L Montagnini; 6/6/24, online ahead of print...This paper aims to guide clinicians in providing patientcentered care for older adults with frailty in the outpatient setting. Through a comprehensive literature review, we describe the leading models of frailty, frailty screening tools used in the clinical setting, and the assessment and management of palliative care needs in frail patients. We also describe emerging models of care focusing on palliative care for older adults with frailty and discuss issues related to access to palliative care for this population.

Addus to buy Gentiva’s personal care assets for $350 million Home Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 6/10/24 Addus HomeCare Corp. is set to acquire Gentiva’s personal care assets for about $350 million.Those assets amount to over 16,000 home care patients per day, in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Addus – which just left the state of New York – will fund the acquisition through its existing revolving credit facility. “We believe this acquisition is a great strategic fit for Addus, and we are excited about the opportunity to expand our personal care market coverage in seven states, including Texas and Missouri, which are new markets for Addus,” Addus CEO Dirk Allison said. ... Addus currently provides home care, home health care and hospice services to over 49,000 consumers through 214 locations spanning 22 states.

Is long-term care evolving or devolving? McKnights Long-Term Care News; by John O'Connor; 6/9/24... Is long-term care evolving or devolving? First, let’s look at some of the positive ways operators in this field are changing with the times. In my view, here’s the first among equals: person-centered care models have emerged as never before. ... Here are some other ways the sector has made notable strides:

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.]

Record numbers of nursing homes are shutting down in New EnglandBoston.com; by Beth Treffeisen; 5/30/24[Personal story about multiple moves, due to shutdowns:] ... Her dad had to spend his entire life savings on care, about $400,000. “And now he’s being treated like this,” Jones said. “He gets moved around, shuffled around like an object.” The nursing home closures affect not only the patients, like Jones’s father, but also the larger health care system and local communities they serve. Experts in the field say the loss of long-term care facility beds has led to backups in emergency rooms, and family members are leaving the workforce to care for the elderly or sick. ... According to a Boston Federal Reserve report, there were 150 less nursing facilities in New England at the end of fiscal year 2023 than there were at the beginning of 2010, a 15 percent decrease.

NYCHA, HPD and HDC celebrate completion of nearly 200 units of senior housing in Bed-Stuy New York Law School; by Veronica Rose; 5/28/24 On May 23, 2024, the New York City Housing Authority, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Housing Development Corporation celebrated the completion of the Atrium at Sumner project, a new eleven-story residence for seniors. ... Of these 190 units, 57 apartments have been reserved for seniors who formerly experienced homelessness, and 132 apartments are available to senior households at 50 percent area median income or less. ... On-site social services will be provided through Selfhelp’s Active Services for Aging Model with voluntary social work support for individual residents and a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE Center) on the ground floor open to residents. 

Transformative peer connections: Early experiences from the ASCO Palliative Care Community of Practice American Society of Clinical Oncology; by Mazie Tsang, Cristiane Bergerot, Natasha Dhawan, Rushil Patel, Darcy Burbage, Tingting Zhang, Jafar Al-Mondhiry, Joseph McCollom, Ramy Sedhom; 5/22/24 online ahead of print in June 2024  ... there are barriers to implementing palliative oncology at many institutions for myriad reasons. ... In this article, we discuss an innovative strategy that ASCO implemented called the Communities of Practice (CoP). We share our experiences as the Palliative Care CoP and how our group seeks to develop processes and structures to collectively promote systemic change and enhance palliative care delivery for people with cancer. Our Palliative Care CoP engages with senior leaders, administrators, and those in power to achieve a shared vision of delivering holistic health care for people with serious illness. ... [We address] eight main domains:

Tuesday Health launches revolutionary Supportive Care solution with $60 million of strategic investment from healthcare leadersInvestors Observier; by PR Newswire; 5/21/24Tuesday Health, a pioneer in value-based care dedicated to transforming serious illness, has launched its innovative supportive care solution in partnership with Valtruis, Blue Venture Fund, Mass General Brigham Ventures , and CareSource. This alliance brings a $60 million strategic investment to Tuesday Health, fueling its mission to redefine supportive care for patients and caregivers facing serious illnesses. "Leveraging clinical expertise, advanced data solutions, and cutting-edge technology, while partnering with Ohio's largest Medicaid plan, its largest hospice provider and the unmatched palliative care experience of Mass General, Tuesday Health is dedicated to tackling one of healthcare's biggest challenges-providing support and care in the right setting, at the right time, for those facing serious illness", said Jim Wieland, CEO of Tuesday Health.Editor's Note: What is the difference between supportive care and palliative care? Click here for a description from ASCO, the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 

Best Buy lands new health system partnerBecker's Health IT; by Giles Bruce; 5/10/24The tech retailer said it joined forces with Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health Network in the first quarter. The health system will use Best Buy's Current Health remote monitoring platform to treat post-discharge congestive heart failure patients. "We talk a lot about our big goal to enable care at home for everyone, and we're intentional about our role as the enabler," Best Buy Health said in a May 9 statement. "Partnering with providers, health plans and biopharma organizations is at the core of our strategy." Best Buy has been leaning into healthcare in recent years, acquiring Current Health in 2021 for $400 million and sending Geek Squad members into patients' homes to set up hospital-at-home technology.

New dementia guide provides best Standards of Care from 100+ not-for-profit hospice, palliative and advanced illness organizations PR Newswire; by National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI); 5/9/24 The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), the national voice for not-for-profit hospice care, in collaboration with Aliviado Health and the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), announces today the release of the NPHI "Dementia Care Resources Provider Guide." The new guide aims to improve the quality of life for patients with dementia, reducing hospitalizations, and easing the burden of advanced illness for families and caregivers. A dementia diagnosis poses substantial challenges for both patients and their families, impacting millions of Americans nationwide. Shockingly, the Alzheimer's Association reports that an estimated 6.7 million individuals in the U.S. currently live with dementia. 

Terminal cancer: What matters to patients and caregivers Medscape Medical News; by Megan Brooks; 5/6/24 What's most important to patients with terminal cancer and their caregivers? New research found that patients and caregivers both tend to prioritize symptom control over life extension but often preferring a balance. Patients and caregivers, however, are less aligned on decisions about cost containment, with patients more likely to prioritize cost containment. ... As patients approached the end of life, neither patients nor caregivers shifted their priorities from life extension to symptom management.

Elder abuse is easy to missNextAvenue; by Leida Snow; 5/6/24 Here is what to look for if you suspect a caregiver--whether a relative or a professional--is mistreating a loved one. ... People are living longer in their own homes outside of nursing homes or other institutional settings, which means that at some point each of us is likely to be a caregiver or looking for continuing health care for a loved one or ourselves. ... "My husband was in home hospice for the last months of his life." ... [A bereaved caregiver describes incidents with her husband's care.]  Then I ... went to the other room and called the agency's 24-hour number. 'I want her out of here,' I said. 'Please send someone else as soon as you can.' Lou briefly rallied the next morning, but he died later that day. Did the aide hasten his death? I believe she did."

Big Bend Hospice, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Partner on transformative approach to transitional careBusiness Wire; 5/2/24 Big Bend Hospice (BBH) and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) announced a partnership today to improve patient navigation within the healthcare system. This collaboration aims to streamline transitions between hospitals, doctor's offices, rehabilitation centers, and home care. The signing of the Affiliation Agreement creates a governance structure that will develop a transformative approach to improving transitions of care in the Big Bend community. Transitions of care involve a patient's movement between healthcare settings, such as doctor's offices, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, long-term care, home health, hospice, etc. This partnership establishes a network of connected healthcare services, creating a seamless patient journey regardless of specific needs.