Literature Review

As PACE grows, here’s what providers need to know about getting involved in the model Home Health Care News, by Patrick Filbin; 2/6/24 During the pandemic, some senior care models succeeded, and some didn’t. The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) was one that did. In 2023, PACE enrollment exceeded 70,000 participants and has seen an over 40% growth in enrollment since 2019. ... But, in order for providers to become PACE partners or participants, they have to be as prepared as possible prior to the enrollment process.

Evaluation of the Medicare Care Choices Model: Annual / Final reportCMMI Evaluation Digest, 1/25/24The six-year Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM) tested whether offering eligible fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries the option to receive supportive and palliative care services through hospice providers without forgoing payment for the treatment of their terminal conditions (which is required to enroll in the Medicare hospice benefit) improved beneficiaries’ quality of life and care, increased their satisfaction, and reduced Medicare expenditures.

A study of how Americans die may improve their end of lifeMedical Xpress, by Rutgers University; 1/24/24A Rutgers Health analysis of millions of Medicare records has laid the groundwork for improving end-of-life care by demonstrating that nearly all older Americans follow one of nine trajectories in their last three years of life.

Why hospice utilization rates have fallenHospice News, by Jim Parker; 1/25/24National hospice utilization rates have fallen since 2020, though the total number of patients served remains consistent. ... Mathematically, the percentage declined in part because of continually changing demographics.Publisher's note: This article quotes a decline in Medicare hospice utilization rates through 2021, which is true. However, we are seeing a rebound / increase in 2022 and 2023 information.

Hospice Benefit Policy Manual updates related to the addition of Marriage and Family Therapists or Mental Health Counselors to the Hospice Interdisciplinary TeamCMS; 1/22/24Change Request 13437 (PDF) purpose is to manualize changes to the hospice interdisciplinary group (IDG) to include Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) or Mental Health Counselors (MHCs). Publisher's note: Also see CMS Hospice Open Door Forum (November 29, 2023) Q&A.

For my teammates, this is an award for all of us. - Lamar Jackson

Are hospice Google ratings correlated with patient experience scores? Evidence from a national hospice studyAmerican Journal of Hopsice and Palliative Care, by Ganisher Davlyatov, Mengying He, Gregory Orewa, Haiyan Qu, Robert Weech-Maldonado; 2/22Choosing hospice care for your loved ones is often challenging. Online ratings such as Google rating has become a go-to source for most consumers. Hospice Google ratings were highly correlated with patients' and families' experience scores as measured by the CAHPS survey.

Participant safety in multisite, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials in hospice/palliative care: Data from the contracted studies of the Australian National Palliative Care Clinical Studies CollaborativeJournal of Palliative Medicine, by David C. Currow, Belinda Fazekas, Linda Brown, Slavica Kochovska, Katherine Clark, Meera R. Agar; 1/24Controversies surround conduct of phase III clinical trials in palliative care... These studies are safe for participants and generate knowledge to support informed patient decision making.

A comparison of hospice care utilization between rural and urban children in Appalachia: A geographic information systems analysisAmerican Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care, by Radion Svynarenko, Guoping Huang, Jessica Keim-Malpass, Melanie J Cozad, Kerri A Qualls, Whitney Stone Sharp, Deb A Kirkland, Lisa C Lindley; 3/24Long driving times from hospice providers to patients lead to poor quality of care, which may exacerbate in rural and highly isolated areas of Appalachia. This study aimed to investigate geographic patterns of pediatric hospice care across Appalachia... State-level policies should be developed to reduce driving times from hospice providers.

Hospice capacity to provide General Inpatient Care: Emergency Department utilization and live discharge among cancer patientsAmerican Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care, by Kyusuk Chung, M Courtney Hughes, Sara Rahmanian Koushkaki, Mia Richelle Risberg, Michelle Alcantara, Jennifer M Amico; 1/24Our results suggest that hospices capable of providing GIP care have lower live discharge rates than their counterparts. However, the fact that GIP care tends to be provided too close to death limits its effectiveness in preventing avoidable emergency department use.

Hospice care experiences among Medicare decedents with and without COVID-19, 2020–2021Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, by Ann Haas MS, MPH; Rebecca Anhang Price PhD; Marc N. Elliott PhD; Joan M. Teno MD, MS; Maria DeYoreo PhD; 2/24COVID-19, the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020–2021, affected hospice care for all patients and their caregivers in many ways; patients with COVID-19 faced additional restrictions on visitations as well as direct effects of the disease. Using CAHPS Hospice Survey data from 3274 hospices nationally, we found that caregivers of Medicare decedents without COVID-19 diagnoses in 2020–2021 reported slightly worse hospice care experiences than caregivers prior to the pandemic. However, experiences for decedents with COVID-19 early in the pandemic (Quarters 2–4 of 2020) were 3.2 to 4.3 points lower than for decedents without COVID-19; these are medium-to-large differences, and larger than observed among any of the 20 most common primary diagnosis groups for the 2 overall assessments of care.

Hospice & Palliative Care Handbook, Fourth Edition: Quality, Compliance, and Reimbursement; 4th EditionAmerican Medical Association, by Tina M. Marrelli, with Jennifer Kennedy; 2023[This book] offers updated coverage of all aspects of hospice and palliative care for the entire healthcare team who provide important care while meeting difficult multilevel regulations. This edition includes examples and strategies covering key topics related to standards, guidelines, goals, and effective care planning.

Medicare threatens to pull funding from HCA’s embattled Mission HospitalSTAT, by Tara Bannow; 2/6/24Five years after investor-owned HCA Healthcare took over an esteemed nonprofit hospital in North Carolina, Medicare is threatening to cut off payment for any services it provides seniors. The rare and dramatic move follows a Medicare revelation that patient safety is in “immediate jeopardy” at Mission Hospital in Asheville. That designation is the most severe the agency can hand out. HCA has just a few weeks to fix the problems or lose its Medicare funding.