Hospice Management Advisor articles from April 2009

Hospice Management Advisor archives from April 2009

A simple benchmarking project for hospice: Reduce patient falls.
April 1, 2009... A simple benchmarking project for hospice: Reduce patient falls Improve outcomes and meet QAPI requirements Keep it simple. Start with one study. Pick an event or symptom that is easy to monitor. As hospice managers began looking for...

Ask nurses for input when designing form.
April 1, 2009... Ask nurses for input when designing form Keep assessment tool simple, easy to incorporate Inclusion of all nursing staff members in the development of the falls risk assessment tool for Hernando Pasco Hospice in Hudson, FL, improved...

List interventions to use after assessment.
April 1, 2009... List interventions to use after assessment Simple changes can reduce risk of falls Assessing a patient's risk level for falls is an important part of any falls reduction program but having a policy or guidelines that describe...

Ethical issues warrant hospice-specific group.
April 1, 2009... Ethical issues warrant hospice-specific group Concerns may change when nurses are guests Are the medications safely out of reach of children? Can the family caregiver handle tasks required to care for the patient? Are family members...

Family issues, safety top ethical concerns.
April 1, 2009... Family issues, safety top ethical concerns Ability to provide quality care may be hindered One of the most attractive aspects of hospice and other types of home health nursing is the constantly changing job; no two days are exactly...

Diverse committee, communication are key.
April 1, 2009... Diverse committee, communication are key Set up process that doesn't intimidate staff An ethics service or ethics committee will look different in each hospice and home health agency, because the program should be geared to meet the...

Take the medical ethics discussion to the people.
April 1, 2009... Take the medical ethics discussion to the people Winona Health offers ethical support to members Medical ethics is not the typical topic of free community health discussions, but the staff at Winona (MN) Health's Home Care and Hospice,...

Alabama hospice settles fraud claims of $24.7M.
April 1, 2009... Alabama hospice settles fraud claims of $24.7M SouthernCare, a Birmingham, AL-based hospice provider, and its shareholders agreed to pay the United States $24.7 million to settle allegations that the company submitted false claims to the...

Many terminally ill patients feel abandoned by doctors.
April 1, 2009... Many terminally ill patients feel abandoned by doctors Terminally ill patients and their family caregivers often feel abandoned by their doctors and feel a sense of "unfinished business" with them, according to a new study by an oncologist...

News Briefs: One-year moratorium on hospice funding cuts.
April 1, 2009... One-year moratorium on hospice funding cuts Hospices have one additional year to work on overturning the elimination of the hospice wage index that was mandated in a 2008 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation. The...

MedPAC payment recs call for more accountability.
April 1, 2009... MedPAC payment recs call for more accountability The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recommendations to Congress for the reformation of the Medicare hospice benefit include strategies to remove incentives for long hospice...

Journal Review: Race affects hospice use in terminal cancer patients.
April 1, 2009... Race affects hospice use in terminal cancer patients Recent research indicates that blacks and Asians with terminal cancer use end-of-life services less frequently than do whites and Hispanics. The researchers studied the records of...

Docs receive guidance on end-of-life care.
April 1, 2009... Docs receive guidance on end-of-life care More than 1.4 million Americans were served by the nation's hospice providers last year, but patients, their families, and their physicians often don't know how to choose the best program for...

Bereavement services should cater to families.
April 1, 2009... Bereavement services should cater to families Although bereavement services are an integral part of hospice programs, not all services are viewed as beneficial to family members included in a study described in a recent issue of the Journal...

Need for hospice volunteers recognized.
April 1, 2009... Need for hospice volunteers recognized Volunteers contribute valuable services to hospice patients, but hospices generally don't publicize the use of volunteers to the general community. A recent study shows that educating the public about...