Hospice Management Advisor Archives – March 1, 2009
March 1, 2009
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Hospices start their trip down the road of quality improvement
A group of 15 Indiana hospices has a two-year head start on all other hospices to meet the Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) requirements of the new Conditions of Participation (COP). The COPs, which were introduced in June 2008, require the collection and use of data to conduct studies designed to evaluate quality. -
Data collected for Indiana QAPI project
The Indiana Association for Hospice and Home Care (IAHHC) in Indianapolis initiated a benchmarking project in 2007 to help hospice members meet the Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) requirements of the new hospice Conditions of Participation. Working with an outside vendor, the association and member hospices identified the following data to collect and measure against other hospices: -
Involve employees in quality efforts
No one wants to feel as if they are being given busy work, but if a performance improvement study isn't presented correctly to staff members, the data collection tool will feel like busy work. If this happens, you might not collect the information you need for the study. -
High use rate is result of multifaceted marketing
How does a hospice located in a county facing high unemployment and a population of only 63,000 become and stay one of the highest-utilized hospices in the state, with a 55% utilization rate? -
Case managers can help with end-of-life situations
It's a situation case managers encounter with agonizing frequency: Physicians who keep pumping medication into patients who are terminally ill, or families who insist on continuing treatment when the clinical picture indicates that the patient's condition is terminal. -
Case managers must face feelings about EOL
If case managers want to effectively help patients and family members with end-of-life (EOL) issues, they need to examine their own feelings about death and dying, says Catherine M. Mullahy, RN, BS, CRRN, CCM, president, Mullahy & Associates, a health care case management training and consulting firm in Huntington, NY. -
Involve pharmacists in a pain management team
Hospitals need a pharmacist who specializes in pain management on board, although this model hasn't taken off as a trend as quickly as many experts in the field believe it should. -
Reasons pain services should include pharmacists
There are a number of reasons pain management should include pharmacy input, including the following: -
Respiratory depression linked to opioids
As a growing body of evidence suggests that aggressive treatment of pain, by intravenous or neuraxial opioids, might be associated with respiratory depression, the American Society of Anesthesiologists has released updated Practice Guidelines for the Prevention, Detection and Management of Respiratory Depression Associated with Neuraxial Opioid Administration. -
Study indicates reasons for racial disparities
Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania in their study found that hospice services have restrictions that reduce usage by many patients who are most in need, particularly African-Americans, according to the American Cancer Society. -
Joint Commission: No new patient safety goals
There will be no new National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) established in 2009 for implementation in 2010 as The Joint Commission performs an extensive review of the current goals and the process to develop goals. -
Journal Review: Phase 1 oncology trial patients don't ask for palliative care
Phase I oncology trial participants often are excluded from hospice services. However, a recent study shows that although they do suffer the same symptoms of patients undergoing traditional cancer therapy, they are less likely to indicate a need for hospice or palliative care-related services. -
Hospice agency provides more than mixed agency
It is not uncommon for an agency to offer home health and hospice services because patient populations are similar and regulations favor the mix of two services in one agency. While it is operationally efficient for the agency, patients might not be receiving the highest quality hospice care from a mixed agency as they would from a hospice-only agency, according to a study published in Medical Care.