Payers, Providers Work to Keep Health Equity in the Spotlight

Concern is mounting around whether current health equity initiatives will be a flash in the pan or yield long term improvement on reducing disparities in hospice care among communities of color. Racial disparities in end-of-life care access have long proliferated, but in recent years health care providers and regulators have been paying closer attention, particularly […]

Hospices Integrating Cultural Competency into Recruitment, Retention

As hospices expand their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, more are putting cultural competency at the forefront of their hiring and training processes.  Understanding and awareness of cultural beliefs and practices makes a difference when it comes to attracting and keeping staff, according to Keith Everett, CEO of Louisiana-based Hospice of Acadiana Inc. A key […]

Advance Care Planning a Bridge to Hospice Among Latino Communities

Early access to advance care planning can be a vehicle for greater health equity among underserved Latino communities, recent research has shown. Early advance care planning can help strengthen trust between providers and patients and families, according to a recent report from Compassion & Choices and the National Hispanic Council on Aging. As with other […]

Stakeholders Urge CMS to Integrate Health Equity into Quality Assessment Tools

Stakeholders in end-of-life and serious illness care are urging payers to develop a national standardized quality assessment tool for hospices to bridge gaps in health equity. Senior care association LeadingAge recently penned a letter to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) calling on the agency to formalize data collection standards for hospices […]

CMS Administrator Brooks-LaSure: Health Care Quality Cannot Exist Without Equity

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is starting a “new chapter” with health equity and value-based and person-centered care as top priorities, according to the agency’s administrator, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. Brooks-LaSure made these remarks at the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations’ (NAACOS) annual conference in Washington, D.C., where she reaffirmed health equity […]

Discrimination Fears Deter LGBTQ+ Patients From Advance Care Planning

Members of LGBTQ+ communities are foregoing advance care planning conversations due to fears of discrimination, recent research has found. A little more than 57% of roughly 200 sexual and gender minority adults indicated in a survey that a fear of disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity was a barricade to advance care planning, according […]

Researchers Test New Model for Enhancing Health Equity in Palliative Care

Four academic institutions are collaborating to test the ways community health workers could enhance palliative care for African American cancer patients. The National Institutes of Health is financing the research, which includes the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and Maryland-based TidalHealth Peninsula Regional. […]

Serious Illness Care Quality, Communications Lacking for Black Hospice Patients

When it comes to communication and quality of care for Black patients, recent data reinforces the notion that hospices have room to grow. The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) recently released key findings in its research review aimed at uncovering disparities in serious illness care quality and patient experiences among underserved populations. Among the […]

AccentCare CMO Natarajan: Trust Crucial for Hospices Engaging LGBTQ+ Communities

LGBTQ+ communities have been historically underserved by hospice, often due to mistrust of the health care system as well as discrimination. Nearly 1 in 3 transgender adults reported that they had to teach their health care provider about transgender issues in order to receive appropriate care, according to a Center for American Progress 2020 survey. […]

Hospices Seek Stronger Ties with Underserved Asian Communities

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in hospice and palliative care have been persistent problems in the field for decades, including among communities of Asian origin. To help providers close some of those gaps, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has released a new Chinese American Resource Guide.  The Asian population in the United States […]