If someone asked you if your hospice was compliant with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Office of Inspector General’s Effective Compliance Program Guidance for Hospice, what would you tell them?
Tomorrow’s nursing homes must integrate palliative care
Jan 09, 2015
Palliative care, a form of patient-centered care focused on quality of life for the seriously ill, should be the standard of practice for all elderly patients with complex illness in nursing homes.
Hospice is growing fastest in skilled nursing facilities, new report shows
By
Tim Mullaney
Nov 05, 2014
Hospice services increased in nursing homes more than in any other care setting last year, according to the latest annual report from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
CMS: Nurse shortage means hospices can keep using contracted workers
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 08, 2014
Hospices can continue to rely on contract nurses because an ongoing nurse shortage is preventing providers from meeting their staffing needs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in a...
CMS updates coding instructions for hospice site of service, principal diagnosis
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 02, 2014
A new Medicare hospice manual update includes instructions for which principal diagnosis codes are acceptable, and clarifies which codes should be used for services in a skilled versus non-skilled nursing...
Accepting what nurses cannot fix
By
Elizabeth Newman
Jul 17, 2014
Like perhaps many of you, I come from a long line of “fixers.” Multiple people whose schedules are conflicting? We’ll coordinate. Someone isn’t able to find a job? We’ll provide...
A blessing within the loss
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
May 27, 2014
This is a very hard blog for me to write. My mother just passed away. It was very sudden and not expected. I am blessed to have two mothers: A step-mother who has been in my life since I have been 8 years...
Nursing homes trail hospitals in quality improvement, AHRQ report shows
By
Tim Mullaney
May 19, 2014
About 60% of nursing home quality measures have been showing significant year-to-year improvement, but hospitals have been improving more quickly, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Advance directives reach record levels, but this does not lead to more hospice use, researchers find
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 03, 2014
Seniors are completing advance directives in record numbers, but this is not having the expected effect of shifting people from hospitals to hospices in their last days, say researchers from the University...
OIG: Hospices often out of compliance, need framing
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 01, 2014
The Department of Health and Human Services’ watchdog arm recently said hospice providers need stronger oversight measures. It also noted more than $5.8 billion in recoveries in fiscal 2013.