Hospice Management Advisor articles from August 2004

Hospice Management Advisor archives from August 2004

Telehospice programs improve care coordination, patient satisfaction: VA has telehealth model that's opening nationwide.(Veterans Health Administration)
August 1, 2004... Experts predict a bigger role for telehealth in the hospice industry as model programs demonstrate high patient/caregiver satisfaction and improved staff efficiency and quality of care. Hospices and home health agencies increasingly are...

Legal issues are critical for telehospice programs: liability and medicare rules are chief concerns.
August 1, 2004... The legal issues that apply to telehospice chiefly relate to the legal issues that already affect health care, including licensure, Medicare's Conditions of Participation (COPs), accreditation, and malpractice laws, with some added details, an...

Hospice ethics committee can smooth a rocky process: Florida committee provides model.(Hospice and HomeCare )
August 1, 2004... A hospice ethics committee can often provide additional emotional support to patients and family members during a time when making decisions is extremely difficult. For instance, one of the more difficult ethical cases handled by Hospice...

Try these foolproof tips to be ready for JCAHO: preparation efforts must change dramatically.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations )
August 1, 2004... If you still are doing last-minute ramp-up preparation for surveys by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, you're going to have big problems with the Shared Visions--New Pathways process,...

JCAHO raises infection bar for long-term care facilities: standards similar to hospitals must be adopted.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
August 1, 2004... While much attention has been paid to new hospital infection control standards for 2005, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, also is adopting similar standards in long-term care facilities....

New JCAHO survey process targets medication errors: examining the six steps of the medication process.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
August 1, 2004... In light of so many providers having difficulty meeting the standard of care for medication administration, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, is taking action. One of its 2004...

Medicare's definition of 'homebound' tested: three states in demonstration project.(Missouri, Colorado, Massachusetts)
August 1, 2004... Medicare officials recently announced the three states where Medicare will conduct a demonstration project involving a new definition of "homebound" that would allow Medicare beneficiaries receiving home health benefits to leave their homes...

Study finds fewer people dying in hospitals.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Research from the past two decades shows that fewer Americans are dying in hospitals, and more are dying at home and in nursing homes. When researchers from the National Institutes of Health looked at more than 35 million death certificates...