Literature Review

Operator hopes to expand residents’ digital literacy with unique tech concierge program McKnights Senior Living, by John O'Connor; 4/22/24Beginning in June, residents in some BHI Senior Living communities will be able to take advantage of a unique tech concierge program. For residents, the new service will feature on-demand tech support, alongside virtual assistance, in-home appointments and a curriculum of tailored enrichment classes and training sessions. For the operator, the program will deliver immediate tech support while also gathering and analyzing data that can be used to inform future technology investments and strategic moves.Editor's Note: How might you adapt this creative service for the persons you serve? What differences might it make in patient care? In hospice caregiver/family satisfaction? What tech support do you have for your staff, especially when they are making home or other in-the-field visits? Relating this to today's articles on the importance of "trust" and "nurses' negativity about AI," do your innovative technologies improve or impede the patient/family's needs and experiences with you?

FBI, DEA search Angel Bright Home Health offices Monday, along with state Medicare fraud unit 3NEWS, Corpus Christi, TX, by Ana Tamez and Lexis Greene; 4/22/24 The FBI searched the Angel Bright Home Health Inc. offices Monday morning. FBI Public Affairs Officer Connor Hagan confirmed FBI-Houston agents were partnering with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) on an operation on Holly Road. ... 3NEWS found about a dozen agents at the home-health and hospice agency's office throughout the day Monday. At about 1:15 p.m., they began carting out boxes filled with documents and loading them into an unmarked box truck.

Health disparities across states: 6 new findings Becker's Clinical Leadership, by Kelly Gooch; 4/18/24 The Commonwealth Fund released a new report April 18 examining racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare access, quality and outcomes across the U.S. The report, titled "Advancing Racial Equity in U.S. Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report," examined state health system performance for five racial and ethnic groups — (non-Hispanic) Black; white; American Indian and Alaska Native; Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander; and Hispanic (any race). [Click on the title's link for (1) Six summary findings, and (2) To download the report. 

AI-generated draft replies integrated into health records and physicians’ electronic communication JAMA Network; by Ming Tai-Seale, PhD, MPH; Sally L. Baxter, MD, MSc; Florin Vaida, PhD; et al; 4/15/24Objective: To investigate the association between GenAI-drafted replies for patient messages and physician time spent on answering messages and the length of replies.Conclusions and Relevance: In this QI study, GenAI-drafted replies were associated with significantly increased read time, no change in reply time, significantly increased reply length, and some perceived benefits. 

Remote access technologies expose home care firms to cybersecurity vulnerabilities, experts sayMcKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 4/18/24 Some of the most commonly used technologies in home care are also among the easiest for criminals to exploit. ... Remote access systems include any technology that allows users to connect to and access a computer, server or network remotely. Within home care, this could be tools such as remote patient monitoring devices, secure messaging apps, telehealth platforms, cloud-based applications or systems that allow users to remotely access patient data, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And while these technologies bring efficiency, they can also expose providers and their patients to risk.

Hospice handoffs may lower odds of Medicare denials Medscape, by Lara Salahi; 4/29/24Clearer communication between primary care clinicians and hospice providers may decrease the number of denied Medicare approvals for end-of-life treatment, according to a small study presented on April 18 at the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Meeting 2024. Tyler Haussler, MD, acting medical director at  Brookestone Home Health & Hospice in Carney, Nebraska, said he conducted the study. ... CMS requires a "face-to-face encounter" between a physician and hospice caregiver to communicate clinical findings and determine the patient's terminal status. Missing or incomplete documentation of a patient's medical condition remains one of the main reasons the agency denies hospice coverage. 

[Sample] Letter: Hospice workers deserve thanks during Volunteer Appreciation Month Commonwealth Ripon Press (Ripon, WI), Letter to the Editor by Meredith Schluter; 4/18/24April is Volunteer Appreciation Month and I want to attest to the incredible impact that caring volunteers make in the lives of others in our community. Compassus Hospice in Neenah is an organization that cares for individuals experiencing life-limiting illnesses. ... From directly interacting with patients and families to working with care team members behind the scenes to help operations run smoothly, [volunteers] provide a vital service. The nationwide impact of hospice volunteers is just as significant. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association, volunteers care for more than 1.5 million hospice patients each year, totaling millions of hours of care annually.Editor's Note: How are you expressing appreciation for your volunteers? This "Letter to the Editor" creates community awareness and provides a call for new volunteers. You have 11 more days to continue April's Volunteer Appreciation Month. What have you done? What more can you do?

Care for Alzheimer's on Medicaid is unorganized, frustrating, inhumanThe Indianapolis Star, by Darcy Metcalfe; 4/14/24What it is like to die of Alzheimer’s in America? Without a doubt, it is nothing as it is portrayed on NBC’s hit series This is Us. At the end of this series, the character Rebecca dies from Alzheimer’s and falls peacefully asleep, snuggly tucked in her warm bed at home, surrounded by family and 24-hour skilled nursing care. Throughout the six seasons of This is Us, I simultaneously witnessed my father’s slow dying from Alzheimer’s in a reality that was worlds away from Rebecca’s. ...

CT Hospice says it can’t provide home care under bill to protect healthcare workersCT News Junkie, by John Ferraro; 4/16/24Connecticut Hospice has warned lawmakers it will be unable to care for gravely ill patients in their homes under a proposed law aimed at protecting home healthcare workers. At issue is Senate Bill 1, which would require organizations that care for people in their homes to conduct background checks on the clients and anyone in the location where care is being given. ... Barbara Pearce, the chief executive officer of Connecticut Hospice, urged lawmakers to remove Connecticut Hospice from entities that would be required to conduct those background checks, noting that the organization which provides end-of-life care is typically called into homes when a patient has days left to live. “Our national hospice organization could find no similar bill in any other state,” Pearce wrote in testimony to the Public Health Committee. “This bill is too broad, too unclear as to requirements, not guaranteed to achieve its aims, duplicative of other procedures required in hospice care, and contradictory to certain regulations of Medicare.” ...Editor's Note: See the previous article in our newsletter today, After death of nurses, CT lawmakers look for solutions: 'We just cannot ignore that risk'.

Medi Home Health and Hospice comes to CulpeperCulpeper Star-Exponent, by Richard Horner; 4/13/24Medi Home Health and Hospice held a grand opening celebration for its new Culpeper (VA) location on Tuesday. Sponsored by the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce, Medi is an arm of Medical Services of America, which offers home health and hospice care. It had several locations throughout the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, including Virginia. According to Ashley McDonald, director of marketing for Medi, the business offers in-home care, including various forms of therapy and nursing care. Medi also offers hospice and palliative care.

To stand pat or not: When home health providers should expand service offerings Home Health Care News, by Joyce Famakinwa; 4/12/24 When it comes to expanding their business portfolios, home health leaders can continue to do what they know best, or they can decide to branch out. Leaders at companies like Choice Health at Home and The LTM Group have found themselves in this exact position. As a result, they have created a framework for determining when to diversify their business portfolios versus when to focus on developing their core care services. ...

Message-based telehealth an increasingly important part of seniors’ healthcare, study findsMcKnights Senior Living, by Aaron Dorman; 4/11/24 Many healthcare experts, and even government agencies, are working to try to expand telehealth coverage for older adults. But much of that work considers telehealth in terms of video and/or phone conversations. E-mails and digital messaging across patient portals, however, also are part of seniors’ healthcare regimen, particularly those who are Medicare beneficiaries, finds a new study published in Health Affairs Scholar. As such, updated telehealth coverage decisions should factor in the time that older adults, their caregivers and clinicians need to exchange these messages, the researchers said.