News
Hospice or ‘All Care Possible’? Answer May Be Shaped by Race
The healthcare that patients with dementia recieve in the last 180 days of life may look substantially different when patients are grouped by race or ethnicity. The odds that patients have advance care planning, the proportion of those who opt to receive “all care possible,” and the likelihood of emergency department visits and receipt of […]
Read MoreDeath literacy: why it’s important to talk about dying
When it comes to talking about death, we have no shortage of euphemisms. This is perhaps most famously illustrated in Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch from 1971. A pet shop worker insists to a customer that his new parrot is “not dead but resting, stunned, pining for the fjords, kipping on his back, tired and […]
Read MoreHospices Develop Nurse Residencies to Stem Labor Pressures
As hospice providers contend with industry-wide nursing shortages, some are taking matters into their own hands with in-house residency programs. A lack of hospice-specific clinical training is a significant recruitment barrier. Few nursing students receive exposure to hospice or palliative care during their education, and most do not feel prepared to provide end-of-life care to […]
Read MoreHospice M&A Outpacing Other Sectors Despite Q1 Slump
Despite hitting a brief slump at this year’s start, hospice merger and acquisition activity still managed to outpace other health care sectors. Strong hospice and home health consolidation continued during the first quarter of 2022, according to a recent report from Provident Healthcare Partners. Both private equity firms and strategic investors remained “bullish” on home-based and hospice […]
Read MoreKeys to Hospice Employee Engagement
With longstanding labor shortages reaching unprecedented levels, hospices are getting creative on recruitment and retention. The factors contributing to this scarcity are multi-faceted. They include questions about employee compensation, burnout, work-life balance, reimbursement levels, and rising rates of retirement as hospice workers age with the rest of the population, among others. As part of their […]
Read MoreLimited Access to Post-Acute Care Fuels Readmission Rates
The availability of post-acute resources, including hospice and palliative care, has a significant impact on hospital readmissions, but greater coordination among providers could drive improvement. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) penalizes hospitals for readmissions rates that exceed certain thresholds, but the agency does not account for the supply of post-acute providers […]
Read MoreMedical scribes, EHR templates boost efficiency, satisfaction and care quality, report says
Medical scribes and EHR templates come out on top when compared to other EHR interface technologies and solutions, according to a June 25 paper published in Cureus. The researchers completed a literature review of the various new modalities in EHR interfaces, looking through the existing research for each interface and rating them qualitatively. Medical scribes and […]
Read MoreLeave the culture better than you found it
If you were ever in a scouting troop when you were younger, you probably learned the phrase, “Leave the campsite better than you found it.” That meant if you saw a piece of trash in the woods, you didn’t ignore it or say, “well, it’s not my trash.” Instead, you were encouraged to pick it […]
Read MoreWearables and smart devices are the future of senior safety
While some seniors need around-the-clock care, others may just need some occasional help and the ability to quickly check in with their caregivers. For those that require a less intense level of care, wearables and smart home devices are a great option to help them age in place. Wearables and mobile safety Medical alert devices […]
Read MoreWe can’t just overhaul SNFs; we have to look at home care too
As anyone with a loved one in a nursing home will tell you, making decisions about skilled nursing is one of the most stressful challenges a family can face, and it’s become infinitely worse during the pandemic. COVID-19 ravaged skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) that were already understaffed and underfunded — with more than 150,000 nursing home […]
Read MorePeer-to-Peer: Always Best Care’s Sean Hart offers tips for successful franchising
Two months ago, Always Best Care Senior Services tapped veteran sales and marketing guru Sean Hart to lead the 25-year-old home care firm’s national franchise expansion. The company hopes Hart can bring Always Best Care the kind of growth he brought to American Family Care, his previous employer. As vice president of sales and development, Hart helped […]
Read MoreFDA expands access to coronavirus drug Paxlovid
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized pharmacists to prescribe the COVID-19 drug Paxlovid to adults and children at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the coronavirus. “The FDA recognizes the important role pharmacists have played and continue to play in combating this pandemic,” Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director for the FDA’s Center for […]
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