Hospice Management Advisor Archives – May 1, 2009
May 1, 2009
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Hospice agencies provide more services than agencies mixed with home health
With both types of services focused on providing care to patients in their own homes, it makes sense that an agency offer home health and hospice services. In fact, as of January 2007, 21% of hospices were part of an agency that was certified as a hospice and a home health agency. But, is an agency that provides both services able to offer all services that a hospice patient needs? -
List of services considered hospice
In a comparison of hospice services offered by mixed and nonmixed agencies, authors Shayna E. Rich, MA, an MD/PhD candidate, and Ann L. Gruber-Baldini, PhD, an associate professor at Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, asked directors of hospices that are a part of a home health agency and directors of hospice-only agencies to identify hospice-related services offered by their agencies. -
Smooth transition from home health to hospice
On paper, transitioning a patient's care from the home health side of an agency to the hospice service of the same agency should be a smooth, easy to accomplish task. -
Music offers relief from anxiety and pain
The woman was young for dementia. In her late 50s and suffering from end-stage dementia, she was lethargic and uncommunicative. -
Journal Reviews: Ped hospice expenditures affected by ethnicity
Little research has been conducted about the use of pediatric hospice care, but a study published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine takes a look at who is using pediatric hospice and what factors affect the costs of pediatric hospice. -
Hospice cost fluctuates during length of service
Hospice care can improve symptom management and quality of life for patients, but intensity and cost of care varies from patient to patient, depending on the length of service, according to a study in Inquiry. -
Studies probe health care costs at the end of life
Patients with advanced cancer who discuss end-of-life care with their physicians appear to have lower health care costs in the final week of life than those who do not, according to a report in the March 9, 2009, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. -
Is fear the motivation for physician aid in dying?
Individuals exploring physician aid in dying in Oregon appear to be motivated by worries about future pain and loss of autonomy rather than current symptoms, according to a report in the March 9, 2009, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. -
Do feeding tubes help in advanced dementia?
Family members grappling with the decision to allow a feeding tube for a relative with advanced dementia will find little comfort from a new review of evidence. -
Sensitivity training helps staff understand
Before they start their job managing the care of senior members, case managers at Senior Care Action Network (SCAN) Health Plan try to sort pills while wearing heavy gloves, strain to understand a speaker whose voice is muffled, and fill out a medical information form while wearing special glasses that simulate vision loss. -
Book reports strategies for end-of-life care
Three days after Duffy lost his mother, Alberta, to a grueling battle with cancer, he sat down at his computer and began to compose her story. The result is a book intended to serve as a tribute to her life and a how-to manual for families experiencing the challenges of saying goodbye to an elderly loved one in failing health. -
Know requirements for consolidated billing
Providers might find the rules confusing with regards to consolidated billing (CB) under the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997. This might be particularly true when patients are discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and home health services. -
FDA reverses decision on liquid morphine
In a surprising move, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended a March 30, 2009, action warning manufacturers to stop producing and distributing certain unapproved prescription opioids, including 20 mg/ml morphine sulfate oral solution.