Literature Review

Alivia Care, Inc. introduces Alivia Care @ Home to northeast Florida PR.com, Alivia Care, Inc. Press Releases, Jacksonville, FL; 9/8/24 Alivia Care, Inc., the parent organization of Community Hospice & Palliative Care, is proud to announces Alivia Care @ Home in Northeast Florida. This change marks a significant milestone in the company's mission to enhance the quality of life for patients through exceptional home care, home health, and supportive care services. As part of this initiative, Alivia Care, Inc. recently opened Alivia Care @ Home offices in Gainesville and Ocala last month, furthering their commitment to serving the North Florida community. Alivia Care @ Home offers specialized services for patients who prefer to receive treatment at home. ... Alivia Care @ Home offers a full spectrum of specialized services, including nursing, physical, occupational, and speech therapies. 

Year-over-year health spending growth highest ‘by far’ for home healthcare McKnights Senior Living; by Lois A. Bowers; 7/28/24 Year-over-year growth in national health spending in June was highest “by far” for home healthcare, at 20.9%, compared with other major healthcare categories, according to a brief issued late Tuesday by Altarum. Most of the growth, 18.5 percentage points, was due to changes in utilization rather than price, George Miller, PhD, Altarum fellow and research team leader, told the McKnight’s Business Daily. “Nursing home care spending was a distant second, at 10.0% year-over-year growth,” Miller said. By comparison, year-over-year spending growth was 8.3% for prescription drugs, 8.2% for hospital care, 7.3% for dental services and 6.6% for physician and clinical services, according to the report. Overall, spending on healthcare goods and services grew by 8.1% between June 2023 and June 2024, with utilization growth continuing to outpace price growth.

Improving post-hospital care of older cancer patients Cancer Health; by University of Colorado Cancer Center and Greg Glasgow; 8/26/24 A few years ago, University of Colorado Cancer Center member and hospitalist Sarguni Singh, MD, began to notice a troubling trend: Older adults with cancer who were leaving the hospital for skilled nursing facilities after treatment were being readmitted to the hospital or having worse outcomes while in rehabilitation. ... Singh knew of an intervention called Assessing and Listening to Individual Goals and Needs (ALIGN) — a palliative care social worker-led protocol aimed at improving quality of life, aligning goals of care, and providing support to patients and caregivers — and she began using it for cancer care. ... The results were overwhelmingly positive, and patients and caregivers told us, ‘This was so helpful,’” says Singh, associate professor of hospital medicine in the CU School of Medicine.

Home health care agency going through changes KSAL.com; by Todd Pittenger; 8/22/24 According to Memorial Health System of Abilene, Home Health & Hospice of Dickinson County (HH&H) has covered many miles throughout Dickinson, Morris, and Marion counties for many years. ... While it was never about profit  and more about going the extra mile to take care of the people in the community, the small agency can no longer support the supply and demand of what it takes to provide these services.  They have taken a loss for several years and can no longer sustain that loss. Home Health & Hospice of Dickinson County is not closing. Their local staff is proud to be the only agency in the community that provides the kind of quality care to neighbors, friends, and family, and  will continue to do so.  HH&H has been in contact with multiple agencies that can assist patients to locate agencies or individuals who can provide these types of services and they are ready to assist. [List of resources]

St. Louis Man sentenced for home health care fraudDOJ press release; 8/21/24U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Tuesday sentenced a man who used his brother’s identity to fraudulently obtain money from the Missouri Medicaid Program to six months of incarceration and six months of house arrest. Judge Clark also ordered Christopher J. Spencer, 46, to repay $56,173 to Missouri’s Medicaid Program. Spencer made false statements from June 2018 to February 2022 in connection with claims for Medicaid-reimbursed personal care assistance services.

Bridgeway Hospice’s new nonprofit ensures access to care Hays Free Press, Buda, TX; by Megan Navarro; 8/21/24 To ensure that members of the community have ease of access to the care that they need, a new nonprofit has been established out of a local hospice service in Buda: Bridgeway To Care Foundation. “We’ve had the hospice for three years — Bridgeway Hospice — and then we have our home health, which is Be Healthy At Home; we established that in 2008. We just saw a certain number of clients that are going without care or kind of falling in between either Medicare age or not being able to utilize their hospice benefit, whether because they’re [younger] than 65 or they’re continuing to seek treatment, such as chemotherapy,” said Brandis Wilmore, president of Bridgeway Hospice. 

Future trends in aged care careers Intelligent Living; by Jennifer Barns; 8/21/24Medical advances have increased the average life expectancy. By 2050, older people—or those above 60 years—are expected to comprise 22% of the global population, almost twice compared to 2015, according to the World Health Organization. As the population ages, the demand for skilled professionals in the aged care sector is also going through the roof. ... Editor's Note: This article provides statistics and user-friendly language that might be helpful for your employee recruitment strategies.

Home Instead Totton launches expedited home care service to meet growing needsKMLK (AR) press release; 8/7/24Home Instead Totton has announced the launch of its new expedited home care service... This new service aims to cut down waiting times, helping clients get the care and support they need quickly and efficiently. The service is designed to meet various needs of the local community, offering a wide range of home care options. These include home visits, specialised care, health care, and live-in care. Each service is designed to address specific client needs, from daily activities to complex health conditions.Publisher's note: Is there need / opportunity for "expedited" hospice care?

Owner of home health care company convicted of multimillion dollar health care fraud schemeDOJ press release; 7/22/24[Boston] Faith Newton, 56, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of health care fraud, and three counts of money laundering. The jury found the defendant not guilty on one count of money laundering conspiracy... “Newton orchestrated a massive $100 million health care fraud scheme that targeted the Medicaid program, funding her lavish lifestyle at the expense of the American taxpayers,” said Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Today’s guilty verdict underscores the commitment of HHS-OIG and our partners to protecting the integrity of our federal health care system, and it should also serve as a stern warning to criminals who contemplate engaging in similar illegal schemes.”

A blood test accurately diagnosed Alzheimer’s 90% of the time, study finds The New York Times; by Pam Belluck; 7/28/24 The New York Times says researchers “reported that a blood test was significantly more accurate than doctors’ interpretation of cognitive tests and CT scans in signaling” Alzheimer’s disease. The study “found that about 90% of the time the blood test correctly identified whether patients with memory problems had Alzheimer’s,” while “dementia specialists using standard methods that did not include expensive PET scans or invasive spinal taps were accurate 73% of the time” and “primary care doctors using those methods got it right only 61% of the time.” The findings were published in JAMA and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

The bereavement care crisis in hospice facilities MedCity News; by Cara McCarty Abbott; 7/28/24 Bereavement care is an essential part of the hospice experience, designed to support those coping with loss. Bereavement care is not just a compassionate gesture; it is a critical component of the hospice care continuum. So why is it so underserved in the U.S.? ... Instead of pushing harder on hospice providers to find more ways to deliver comprehensive bereavement care with less, it's key to address the systemic forces hampering their ability to deliver quality care at the scale required and address these challenges. Editor's Note: Additionally, does your hospice still rely on the misnamed, overused "5 Stages of Grief"? These were determined from 1960's persons who were dying, not from bereaved persons who live on--surviving--the death. Extensive fresh, contemporary, hospice-designed grief resources to support bereavement counselors and the persons they serve are provided by Composing Life Out of Loss, a sponsor for our newsletter.

Advance care questions to ask your loved one Parkview Health; 7/27/24 ... To ease into a conversation about decisions and scenarios, we can start with questions that are easier to answer, like: What does a good day look like? If you got to spend the day with your favorite people doing your favorite things, what would you be doing? With whom? ... From there, we can talk about more specifics related to healthcare decisions, such as: If your heart and breathing stop suddenly, would you want to have CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), which can include pushing on your chest, breathing support, medications, and electrical shocks? ... If you knew that death was likely to happen in a brief period of time, would you want to be in the hospital, in a nursing care facility or at home? ... Editor's Note: The wording, sequencing, and open-ended format of these questions gently open the door for the person to reflect on and describe one's wishes, in contrast to some advance care planning questions that focus on filling out a form. Yes, Advance Directives forms are crucial. However, the forms are a tool for now and for needs ahead. The focus is the person, while building a context of relationship and trust.