Literature Review

Home Healthcare Market worth $383.0 billion by 2028 Iowanews Headlines; 4/11/24 [The] Home Healthcare Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $250.0 billion in 2023 and is poised to reach $383.0 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 8.9% from 2023 to 2028 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™. The primary drivers propelling the growth of this market are the aging population, rising healthcare expenditures, and the increased need for home care due to technological advancements in home healthcare.

AI in palliative and end-of-life care: "How new technology makes us feel is important" Marie Curie, by Dr. Ami Nwosu, Research Lead at the Marie Curie Hospice, Liverpool, UK; 4/11/24... People who require palliative and end of life care require specific physical, emotional, psychological and social needs, which requires holistic assessment and support. Although there are more opportunities to use AI technologies in palliative care, there may be concern from family caregivers that technology may be unable to provide the person-centered, human connection which may be desired when people are at their most vulnerable.

Privacy bill could have sweeping impact on insurers, providers Modern Healthcare, by Michael McAuliff; 4/10/24A far-reaching new privacy bill could have major implications for how healthcare providers, insurance companies and third parties handle and utilize sensitive data. While the bipartisan American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 is not specific to the healthcare industry, a number of its proposed policies would impact how healthcare companies do business. The legislation includes an array of provisions that range from raising cybersecurity standards to allowing people to opt out of algorithms that could be used to make medical decisions.

New patient safety measures imminent as risk of harm evolves: CMS McKnights Long-Term Care News, by Kimberly Marselas; 4/10/24 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services remains acutely focused on patient harm and will introduce new measures addressing patient safety later this year, agency leaders said at an event in Baltimore Tuesday. ... Agency officials are working with other Health and Human Services branches and meeting internally to develop a 10-point patient safety strategy to be unveiled later this year. 

HopeHealth’s expanding scope of pediatric hospice, palliative services Hospice News, by Holly Vossel; 4/8/24 HopeHealth has been growing its pediatric hospice and supportive care service lines in recent years to address a range of unmet needs among seriously ill children and their families. The nonprofit health system serves Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. ... Hospice News recently sat down with pediatrician Dr. Rebecca MacDonell-Yilmaz, medical director of HopeHealth’s pediatric supportive services. 

Why home-based healthcare could invite cyberattacks Modern Healthcare, by Diane Eastabrook; 3/29/24 Cybersecurity experts warn that as more healthcare is provided in patients’ homes, the flow of data between those locations, vendors and providers raises the risk for ransomware attacks. In the wake of the Change Healthcare attack, cybersecurity consultants are scrutinizing home-based care — particularly the storage and transfer of data through telehealth, remote patient monitoring and wearable devices. 

The HAP Foundation, CLHPN partner to address unmet pediatric hospice needs Hospice News, by Holly Vossel; 4/5/24The HAP Foundation is partnering with the Child Life Hospice and Palliative Network (CLHPN) to improve awareness of and access to child life services among seriously ill youths and their families. The HAP Foundation helps support research and education in hospice and palliative care. Through the partnership, the organization will help fuel CLHPN’s efforts to expand understanding and utilization of child life specialist services and their benefits for families facing terminal and chronic illness. Child life specialists can help address a range of unmet psychosocial, emotional and spiritual family needs, according to Alyssa Friedberg, CLHPN co-founder.

Ethical issues abound in adoption of Artificial Intelligence in cancer care Oncology Nurse Advisor; 4/4/24There may be ethical barriers to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) into cancer care, according to a study published online March 28 in JAMA Network Open. Andrew Hantel, M.D., from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues evaluated oncologists’ views on the ethical domains of the use of AI in clinical care. The analysis included 204 survey responses from 37 states. ... “These findings suggest that the implementation of AI in oncology must include rigorous assessments of its effect on care decisions as well as decisional responsibility when problems related to AI use arise,” the authors write.

Proposed hospice rule offers key quality improvement changes, experts offer McKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 4/4/24While the recently proposed 2025 hospice payment update included a payment adjustment that stakeholders have perceived as inadequate, it also introduced valuable new tools to address hospice quality and more, according to industry regulatory experts. One of the proposed rule’s most enticing features is the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool, which next year will replace the current Hospice Item Set (HIS) measurement system used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to track hospice quality.

Hospice update: March goes out like a lion Morgan Lewis - Health Law Scan, by Howard J. Young; 4/2/24 The old adage—March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb—didn’t quite hold true for the hospice sector, which experienced a late-month flurry of activity. The government gave the hospice sector a lot to consider, from MedPAC’s suggested freeze on hospice rates to CMS’s 2025 Proposed Hospice Rule (public comments due May 28, 2024) that, if finalized as is, would include a 2.6% payment bump. CMS’s Proposed Hospice Rule lays the groundwork for the long-anticipated Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) quality measures data collection instrument, which will be used to collect data at various points during the hospice stay, not just at admission and discharge.  

Home care providers hail bill establishing standard classification for direct support workers McKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 4/3/24 The Senate last week passed legislation that would address the dire shortage of direct support workers with the establishment of a classification to help stakeholders collect workforce data. Specifically, if signed into law, the Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act would require the Office of Management and Budget to consider establishing a standard occupational classification (SOC) for direct support professionals (DSPs). This classification would make it easier for policymakers to gather useful data about these workers and help them better address critical workforce challenges.

Home Healthcare Statistics 2024 by demographics, utilization, diagnosesMarket.us, by Samruddhi Yardi;  4/3/24 

New Federal Health IT Strategy sets sights on a heathier, more innovative, and more equitable health care experienceU.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 3/28/24The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), today released the draft 2024–2030 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan (the draft Plan) for public comment. The draft Plan: