Literature Review

Top News Stories of the Month, September 2024

AccentCare sued by EEOC for pay discrimination, retaliationMcKnight's Home Care; by Adam Healy; 10/1/24The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disclosed last week that it filed a lawsuit against AccentCare, a national provider of home health, personal care and hospice services, alleging wage discrimination and retaliation against workers.

Heartwarming video show calves bringing joy to hospice patients[Augusta, GA] Fox54 News; by Talker News; 9/26/24Carol Harland had family visiting her when she was surprised by the calves visiting. A heartwarming video shows end of life patients meeting and cuddling two adorable calves. Residents at Ashgate Hospice in Chesterfield, Derbys., spent their day being entertained by four-week-old Brown Swiss cows Bonnie and Bella. Carol Harland, 75, was only admitted into the hospice's inpatient unit two days before the "gorgeous" cows came and visited her but said she had a "lovely day." Carol, who has bowel cancer, said: "The cows have been gorgeous.

Patient safety experts want progress on quality measure alignmentModern Healthcare; by Mari Devereaux; 9/30/24Patient safety leaders say standardization is needed to prevent overlapping, conflicting reporting requirements that don’t improve health outcomes. Some are hopeful the industry could see progress in the next few years. Until then, overburdened providers are choosing to report on a handful of quality measures they decide are the most important.Publisher's note: Thinking of Joanne Lynn's efforts to standardize publicly available quality measures at the turn of the century - we'll get there!

The HOPE assessment tool: What you need to know [free webinar from CHAP]CHAP press release; 10/2/24The HOPE assessment tool kicks off in 2025 and will catalyze hospice care to a new level. CMS developed the HOPE tool to inform future quality measure development and payment reform, eventually moving hospice from pay-for-submission to pay-for-performance. This session will describe the implementation of the HOPE assessment tool, content highlights, and its impact on hospice program operations in the next several years.Publisher's note: Dr. Jennifer Kennedy and Kim Skehan from CHAP are presenting this free webinar 10/16/24 @ 1:00-2:00 PM ET. Please click the link above for addtional and registration information.

What I've what I've seen is, you know, sometimes you have friendly rivalries in the hospice and palliative care world. That's gone. We're all family right now and that--I just whew--that moves me to tears. That's the type of stuff that's like, you know what? Ok, that gives me hope that we are going to get beyond this. ~ Chris Comeaux, 10/2/24, near Asheville, NC, describing his hospice leadership experiences in the midst of Hurricane Helene's aftermath

Maybe we should select leaders based on their characterForbes; by Joyce E. A. Russell; 10/1/24When we hire leaders for our organizations and communities, shouldn’t we pick them based on not only their expertise and ability to do the job, but also their character? Over two decades ago, prominent leadership researchers Kouzes and Posner published a book called Credibility. In their research, they noted that across the globe credibility was the most highly rated and important characteristic of leaders. They stated that, “most of us admire leaders who are honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent.” They followed that up with another book with even more evidence called The Truth about Leadership, where they noted that credibility is the foundation of leadership for organizations across the world, and this is based on international data across multiple generations.

Breast cancer rising among younger women and Asian Americans, report findsNBC News; by Kaitlin Sullivan; 10/1/24Even as death rates from breast cancer have fallen, rates of new diagnoses continue to tick upwards, according to an American Cancer Society report. Americans have benefited from huge leaps in breast cancer treatment over the last two decades, but diagnoses are becoming more common, especially among younger women, according to a report published Tuesday by the American Cancer Society. The new report shows that breast cancer mortality has decreased by 44% since the late 1980s. Rates of breast cancer, however, have increased by 1% every year since 2012. In younger women, rates have increased at a faster clip — by about 1.4% every year since 2021.

Leading causes of death by age groupBecker's Clinical Leadership; by Mariah Taylor; 10/1/24Motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of death for children, while accidental poisoning, cancer and heart attack were the leading causes of death for adults, according to a report from USAFacts, a nonprofit organization that conducts data analysis. The "America in Facts 2024" report, published in July, used CDC data to calculate the leading causes of death by age from 2020 to 2021. Heart disease and cancer have been the leading causes of death since 1950. COVID-19 became one of the leading causes of death at the onset of the pandemic but has since fallen to the fourth leading cause of death. The top five leading causes of death account for 58% of all deaths in 2022. Twenty-one percent of all deaths were from heart disease, 19% were from cancer and 7% were from accidents in 2022.Publisher's note: Please click the link above for leading causes of death by age group.

Helene and Hospice: "We're seeing such personal sacrifices ... It's heartwarming and heartbreaking ..."Hospice & Palliative Care Today; Zoom meeting with Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN), Chris Comeaux and Tina Gentry; 10/2/24[These excerpts are from a Zoom meeting between TCN's leaders Chris Comeaux (Hendersonville, NC just outside of Asheville, NC) and Tina Gentry (Fort Mill, SC) and this newsletter's leaders Cordt Kassner and Joy Berger. Click here for the longer transcription. Continue reading for ways you can help.] Chris Comeaux: There's great tragedy, great devastation, and there are beautiful miracles occurring at the same time. … I know I'm going to keep using words like historic, unprecedented, devastating. There are not even words to describe what we’re seeing. ... Tina Gentry: It's just heart wrenching. You want to be able to go and fix things and you just can't do it, right? You don't feel like you can do enough. And knowing that there are certain limitations and that we have to rely on other resources to help support our teams. We have to do what we can and then trust that others will do what they can to help.  ...Chris Comeaux: All of our all staff is accounted for. Some are still without water, electricity. [Some] staff compared at Four Seasons [Hospice], CCWNC [Community Care of Western North Carolina], Amorem staff … have completely lost their homes. They’re gone. We have a wonderful partner that serves many of our hospices. Yesterday, they found the body of their dear neighbor. They can't even get to their house. It would be a 10-mile hike through things that today--in modern days--you would go, “How is that possible?” … I've always heard the word, “aftermath.” I now understand what people mean by “aftermath.” ...Tina Gentry: … We’re seeing such personal sacrifices from those team members on the ground. It’s really heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. ...Chris Comeaux: … What I've seen is, sometimes you have friendly rivalries in the hospice and palliative care world. That's gone. We're all family right now and that--I just, whew--that moves me to tears. That's the type of stuff that's like, you know what? Ok, that gives me hope that we are going to get beyond this. ... [See this in Today's Encouragement.]Key Themes:

Bringing Penelope home The Chronicle of The Horse; by Sarah K. Susa; 10/1/2024 Angie was 35 when she, her husband, and son moved into their first home. It was red brick with a big picture window and a pasture out front where their horses could graze. It was almost a dream come true. Almost, because Angie was dying. The lump she’d found just two years earlier had metastasized, multiple times. In the beginning doctors cut off both breasts, hoping to take the cancer with them. But the disease was stealthy, hiding somewhere inside, then popping up here and there: liver, lymph nodes, spine, brain. She was pumped full of chemo. Blasted with radiation. Time and again, surgeons opened her up, removing any fragments of the disease that they could. Then they’d stitch her back together, hoping to buy her more time. But eventually, Angie was told, there was nothing more to do. Hospice was called. A hospital bed in Angie’s new living room allowed her to watch the horses graze from the picture window, her favorite feature of the house. Her son, just 5, would perch on the window’s deep sill, quietly building Legos and trying to process what was happening around him. And it was all happening so fast. 

EEOC sues AccentCare Home Health Care company for pay discrimination and retaliation U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Press Release; 9/27/24 AccentCare, a nationwide home health care service company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, violated federal civil rights laws by paying female employees less than a male colleague because of their sex and retaliating against a female employee who repeatedly complained, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, female Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) working out of AccentCare’s Pottsville, Pennsylvania, location were paid less than their male colleague for performing equal work, despite their superior qualifications. After a female LPN repeatedly complained about the gender-based pay disparity and requested a raise, AccentCare retaliated against her, and ultimately fired her. Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits pay discrimination based on sex and retaliation for opposing sex discrimination.