Literature Review

10 of the largest US healthcare companies by revenue - 2024Becker's Hospital Review, by Laura Dyrda; 2/9/24Below is a list ranking 10 of the largest healthcare copmanies, including health plans and systems, by revenue over the most recent four quarters.

US CDC plans to drop five-day COVID isolation guidelinesReuters; 2/13/24The U.S. CDC plans to drop its five-day COVID-19 isolation recommendations under new guidance planned by the agency, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Changes in hospice care experiences during the COVID-19 pandemicRand, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society; by Maria DeYoreo, Rebecca Anhang Price, Ann C. Haas, Anagha Alka Tolpadi, Joan M. Teno, Marc N. Elliott; 2/12/24Demand for hospice and palliative care services increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospices strove to meet this demand despite staffing shortages and visitation restrictions that sometimes prevented family members and hospice staff from visiting patients in institutional settings such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. We examine how the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced the characteristics of patients receiving hospice care, the settings in which they received care, and their care experiences using national data from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospice Survey. The survey is completed by bereaved family caregivers following the death of the hospice patient, and is the national standard for assessing patient- and family-centeredness of hospice care.

MIDEO Systems Inc. secures contract with city of Austin for innovative end-of-life care solution BBN, by Waqas Arain; 2/13/24MIDEO Systems Inc., a groundbreaking platform offering video-based advance care planning services, has secured a contract with the City of Austin. The partnership aims to streamline and digitize the process of documenting patients' medical preferences, making it more accessible and understandable for medical professionals.

Kansas hospital to transition to rural emergency hospital Becker's Hospital CFO Report, by Maeline Ashley; 2/12/24La Crosse, KS-based Rush County Memorial Hospital has decided to transition to a rural emergency hospital due to ongoing rural healthcare challenges like reimbursement changes, cost increases, governmental change, and a local population decrease.

U.S. News & World Report: How to choose a hospice provider and questions to askU.S. News & World Report, by Claire Wolters; 2/14/24Hospice is a critical piece of end-of-life care for many families. Here's how to determine if hospice care is a good fit for you. [Includes "Questions to Ask Yourself," "Questions to Ask Your Hospice Provider," and "How to Choose a Hospice Provider."]Editor's Note: This high profile article provides concise information and questions for the public. Do your marketing materials address these questions? For CMS hospice CAHPS and HHS quality ratings, examine the National Hospice Locator, which provides information about every known hospice in the United States.

Former President Jimmy Carter spends 12 months in hospice careNewsNation, by Katie Smith; 2/14/24Sunday will mark one year since America’s longest-living president, 99-year-old Jimmy Carter, entered hospice care to spend his remaining time at home with his family. The 39th U.S. president elected to receive hospice care Feb. 18, 2023, according to a statement The Carter Center issued that day.Editor's Note: How are you addressing this length of 1+ year with the patients you serve? Click here for the CMS pdf of the 6-month rule, "Face-to-Face Requirement Affecting Hospice Recertification." 

$25k donation to Hospice of the Piedmont from the Countybank FoundationIndependent Banker, by William Atkinson; 2/12/24Countybank's Half-Century of Charitable Giving ...  One recent donation of $25,000 from the Countybank Foundation went to Hospice & Palliative Care of the Piedmont, a community nonprofit network of care that provides specialized healthcare for those living with advanced illnesses. ... “When children lose someone they care about, it affects their entire life: their nutrition, their sleep, their relationships, their behavior and their schoolwork,” Charlene Kish, CEO of Hospice & Palliative Care of the Piedmont, said in a statement. “With financial support from organizations like Countybank and Greenwood Capital, we are able to provide education and support to both the child and the parents.” 

Hospice of the Golden Isles receives Auxiliary donation The Brunswick News, by Whitney Long; 2/14/24At the recent annual meeting and luncheon for the Auxiliary Hospice of the Golden Isles (HGI), ... [the] meeting concluded with a donation and presentation check for $150,000 to HGI. This donation was made possible by fundraising efforts from Open Homes Open Hearts neighborhood fundraisers and from the 2023 Wine, Women & Shoes Golden Isles yearly fundraiser.

The Last Portrait: Local photo exhibition captures different takes on dyingUtica Observer Dispatch, by Amy Neff Roth; 2/9/24... The 26 black-and-white photos, taken by local photographer Mark DiOrio, all capture moments in the life of someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.  “I wanted to photograph them because they’ve been given news that nobody wants to hear,” DiOrio explained. “They’ve been given the news that it’s going to be their time soon. And when you’re given that kind of news, you have choices to make on how you handle it. I felt that these people, what they had to say and the emotions that they communicated in that moment were invaluable.”

How do you live while your brother is dying? ‘Suncoast’ is a teen take on hospiceWisconsin Public Radio, by Mandalit Del Barco; 2/9/24A new film streaming on Hulu considers a subject that’s sometimes in the news, but not often in entertainment: hospice end-of-life care. Suncoast is writer-director Laura Chinn’s fictional account of her life in the early 2000s as a Florida teen with a severely ill older brother. ... Chinn helped her mother care for him for years, and at the end of his life, they moved him into a hospice center. It turned out to be the same place that a woman named Terri Schiavo was on life support for 15 years.

Hospice nursing a ‘privilege and honour’, says chief nurseNursing Times, by Edd Church; 2/13/24The chief nurse of a children's hospice is seeking to challenge perceptions of the specialty and encourage more nurses into it.