LTC visitor data: Home health, hospice care held steady while family visits plummeted
By
Diane Eastabrook
May 04, 2022
An analysis of sign-ins at 6,000 SNFs and senior living facilities found that third-party care such as home health visits remained consistent during the pandemic, while family visits were curtailed.
Seniors’ misconceptions about advanced cancer may reduce use of hospice services: study
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 02, 2022
Older adults with advanced cancer often misjudge the time they have left to live. This may increase their chances for unnecessary hospitalization and likelihood to neglect hospice care, investigators say.
Rapid growth of for-profit hospices raises ethical concerns, study says
May 19, 2011
The success of the for-profit hospice industry has caused concern among ethicists who say that the goal of profitability interferes with their ability to provide quality end-of-life care, according to...
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...
CMS revises hospice rules
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 02, 2013
A long-term care provider and its hospice partner will need to draw up a detailed contract, according to a final rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and published in the Federal...
CMS finalizes contract requirements for long-term care providers and hospice partners
By
Ashley Carman
Jun 28, 2013
Long-term care providers will need to draw up a strictly formatted contract with their hospice care partners, according to a final rule released Thursday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services....
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.
This hospice study might make nursing homes less comfortable
By
John O'Connor
Feb 19, 2018
What’s the best eldercare development we’ve seen in the past quarter century? For my money, nothing compares to the ongoing expansion of hospice care services.
Surgeon general rings alarm over healthcare worker burnout
By
Diane Eastabrook
May 26, 2022
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murphy has proposed an action plan to address what he called a crisis of burnout and mental health issues among healthcare providers.
What the family wants
By
Elizabeth Newman
Apr 18, 2013
When it comes to talk about palliative care and rehospitalizations, what should a provider do when the family is insistent on sending their loved one back to the hospital?