Opioid use for patients with advanced illness has been the focus of controversy and misconceptions, even among health care practitioners, an expert notes.
Designating a staff member as the "coding expert" for your agency is one way to ensure accurate reimbursement; but the person does not have to be a certified coder to help your agency understand the myriad codes and guidelines.
Patients' right to freedom of choice of providers has been a source of continuing conflict, especially between hospitals and post-acute providers not owned by or affiliated with hospitals -- so-called freestanding providers.
It's been 20 years since Springfield, MO, Medical Centers Hospice Program became the first U.S. prison hospice program, and now there are more than 70 hospice programs within state and federal prisons.
In at least one way, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, LA, is an ideal setting for a hospice: It's an encapsulated village in which 90 percent of its residents will die within its walls and fences.
