Literature Review

Hospice and the care continuum: Achieving Age-Friendly CareHospice News; by Jack Silverstein; 5/23/24When Jennifer Hale thinks of age-friendly care in hospice, her mind goes first to what might seem an unusual place: man’s best friend. As the VP of Clinical Quality and Standards of hospice provider Compassus, Hale views age-friendly care as an approach to care that is “focused specifically on the needs of people as they age in their home setting,” she says. That means hospice providers listen to what their patients need and want to make them comfortable and give them dignity at the end of life. Compassus uses its clinical assessment not just to capture a patient’s health information but also to inform their goals, hopes and fears. “Age-friendly care certification was another way for us to validate our care model,” Hale says. “We worked with Homecare Homebase to implement their person-centered care plan which actually further validated the approach to care that we were already taking.”

US News adds Medicare Advantage data to rankingsBecker's Hospital Review; by Laura Dyrda; 5/22/24U.S. News & World Report is now including Medicare Advantage data in the rankings for Best Hospitals, according to a U.S. News blog post. The publication previously relied on Medicare data, but as more beneficiaries opt for commercial Medicare Advantage plans, U.S. News decided to expand its scope. The next set of rankings, scheduled for publication on July 16, will include risk-adjusted mortality rates for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in 11 adult specialties. U.S. News weighted mortality scores at 36% of the overall ratings with traditional Medicare data. The weight will shift with the combined mortality score from both Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans.

Heart to Heart Hospice of San Antonio opens new hospice housePress release; by Kimberly Dellinger; 5/23/24Heart to Heart Hospice plans to expand inpatient services with the opening of the only freestanding Hospice House in the San Antonio area. Heart to Heart Hospice, a leader in hospice services since 2003, is currently building a Hospice House as an extension of its service offerings to patients and families in the San Antonio community, opening Summer of 2024.

Hosparus Health opens new multimillion dollar St. Matthews grief centerLouisville Business Journal; by Zak Owens; 5/23/24Hosparus Heallth unveils $4 million grief center on its St. Matthews campus.Note: May require subscription to access entire article.

State-level initiatives tackle language-based barriers to worker training, testing McKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 5/20/24Foreign-born workers account for 27% of the nation’s direct care workforce, but many states maintain strict, English-only testing and training requirements that can prevent some immigrants from entering the workforce, according to the results of a new analysis. PHI looked at five state initiatives working to address those language-based barriers to workforce training and certification with a goal of expanding opportunities for workers who do not speak English as their primary language. PHI highlighted initiatives in five states — California, Massachusetts, New York, Washington and Wisconsin — using approaches deemed innnovative to make progress in addressing language access barriers for direct care workers. [Click on the title's link for solutions these five states are using.]

Hospital staffing shortages draws hundreds to California rally AFSCME, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees; by UNANC/UHCP and AFSCME International Staff; 5/21/24 SACRAMENTO, Calif. – More than 400 health care union members went to the California state Capitol during National Nurses Week this month to appeal to the state’s elected leaders to fix the nursing education backlog and hospital staffing issues that affect patient care. ... Rally participants pressed lawmakers to make health care education and training programs more accessible so students remain in their California communities for their health care careers. They also appealed to lawmakers to empower health care professionals to enforce safe staffing standards in the state’s hospitals.Editor's Note: Pair this article with others in today's issue, in our "Education" section.

Health equity: Insights on the CMS Framework and Leadership in HealthcareCHAP Podcast; by CHAP and Marisette Hassan; 5/23/24As a nurse, witnessing the pervasive disparities in healthcare access was a profound wake-up call. Our conversation with Marisette Hassan takes us on a journey through the challenges and aspirations of achieving health equity, a mission that has never been more critical than in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. When systems fail to serve everyone equally, the consequences are dire, and our discussion underlines the urgency of this issue. With Marisette's insights on the CMS health equity framework, we unpack the layers of this complex issue, from the importance of data collection to the necessity of culturally tailored services.

Addus announces sale of its personal care business in New York Home Helath Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 5/21/24 Addus HomeCare Corporation is selling its New York personal care business, along with its fiscal intermediary services for the state’s consumer-directed care program. The company announced Tuesday that it will offload its New York operations to HCS-Girling, another home-based care provider. The divestment will be worth “up to” $23 million for Addus, the company said, and the transaction is not yet closed. ... Based in Frisco, Texas, Addus provides home care, home health and hospice services to more than 49,000 consumers across 214 locations spanning 22 states.

Legacy society honors ardent supporters of Blue Ridge HospiceThe Winchester Star; by Brian Brehm; 5/21/24 Blue Ridge Hospice holds its cofounder in such high esteem, it has created a legacy society and named it in her honor. The new Helen Zebarth Legacy Society aims to honor Zebarth’s vision, inspire philanthropy and ensure the continuity of compassionate end-of-life care for generations to come, according to a media release from Blue Ridge Hospice in Winchester. Blue Ridge Hospice was formed after Zebarth visited England while her husband, Roger, was stationed in Europe on a military assignment in the 1970s. When the Zebarths returned to the United States in the late 1970s, Helen Zebarth, a former nurse at Winchester Memorial Hospital, got in touch with the hospital’s CEO, George Caley, and told him they needed to start a local hospice. Editor's Note: May we learn from Blue Ridge Hospice. On this day of remembering, we thank those whose vision and perseverance for "hospice care" carved out new paths for better living, dying, moments of death, and bereavement. Who were those pioneers for your hospice? How do you remember their legacies?

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds. - Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865

Healthcare sees highest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in 15 years: reportMcKnights Senior Living; by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 5/20/24Chapter 11 bankruptcies in healthcare, including senior living reached a multiyear high in the first quarter of 2024. That’s according to the newest Polsinelli-TrBK Distress Indices Report, published Wednesday. “We continue to see intense stress in senior living,” Jeremy R. Johnson, a bankruptcy and restructuring attorney at Polsinelli and co-author of the report, said in a press release issued in conjunction with the report. ... The Southeast continues to outpace the rest of the country as the busiest region for bankruptcy filings, according to the report. The Southeast region reported 33.4% of the filings in the first quarter, followed by Northeast and Delaware at 30.8% and 16.1%, respectively. Since the benchmark period of 2020, the Northeast has shown the biggest increase in filings.

Vitas’ acquisition pipeline likely growing Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 5/15/24 Vitas Healthcare, a subsidiary of Chemed Corp. is gearing up for potential acquisitions. ... VITAS is targeting its home state of Florida and other Certificate of Need (CON) states for potential deals, Michael Witzeman, vice president, CFO and controller at Chemed said during the Bank of America Securities Health Care Conference. “We certainly think that there’s a pipeline growing, and we have the resources on our balance sheet with cash and no debt to be able to really be a player in any of these,” Witzeman said. “We would like to be in states that have CON restrictions much more than an unrestricted state, but we certainly have the interesting inability when things come available to be able to jump on them.” ...

The human side of AI: Insights on balancing automation and empathy Innovation & Tech Today; by Enrico Palmerino; 5/20/24 ... As AI automates more tasks with clinical precision, empathy is a critical human element we cannot overlook. That intangible ability to understand and share the feelings of another isn’t just a soft skill — it’s an essential catalyst for trust, loyalty, and genuine connection. Consider the healthcare industry, where empathy is (quite literally) often a matter of life and death. Can an AI-powered diagnostic system truly grasp a patient’s fear and vulnerability when facing a serious illness? ... Finding the delicate balance between leveraging AI automation and preserving human empathy is the new challenge before us. It’s a duality that will shape how businesses operate and how we interact with technology. ... Let the machines optimize processes while we optimize the ability to connect and inspire. In this harmonious future, AI is a tool that elevates us — not replaces us.Editor's Note: Is AI a hot topic among your leaders and interdisciplinary clinicians? Often, "empathy" and "communication" are cited as key cautions and conflicts. See the previous article, "Nurses don't trust employers to safely implement AI tools, survey shows."