Staff training and effective communication play important roles in a palliative care provider’s ability to reach referral sources and address unmet needs among seriously ill patients and their families. Palliative care providers have employed various outreach strategies to better communicate and define the scope of their interdisciplinary services to other health care providers. Some of […]

Palliative care providers face a host of unique recruitment and retention challenges compared to others, with organizations employing diverse strategies to rise above the competition. Misunderstandings about palliative care can serve as a large barrier to retention, said Wendy Winokur, vice president of Traditions Health Palliative Care, part of Traditions Health LLC. The nuances of […]

Supporting seriously ill children and youths can come with higher costs and greater complexities compared to adult populations. Sustaining pediatric hospice and palliative care programs involves employing dynamic referral and financial strategies in today’s health care landscape. Pediatric programs often face challenges when establishing a firm financial foothold, with funding a main obstacle hindering growth […]

The Wisconsin State Assembly has approved a bill requiring the state’s Department of Health Services (DHS) to create a statewide palliative care council. A group of 22 palliative clinical professionals, patients and family members would comprise the council to help address care delivery issues and raise awareness in the field. The council would also include […]

Complex regulatory policies intended to safeguard opioid utilization may be posing unintentional barriers for palliative care patients seeking pain and symptom relief, according to recent research from the Mount Sinai Health System. Palliative care clinicians at the New York City-based health system have seen mounting challenges when prescribing opioids to seriously ill patients to relieve […]

A new palliative care provider has emerged in Colorado, branded as Journey of Care. Journey of Care is among the rare companies that strictly provide palliative care, without the service being attached to a hospice, health system, primary care company or other entity. The company was established about six months ago. A “significant opportunity” exists […]

While community-based palliative care is important for many patients, providers may often consider it to be a financial challenge.  Community-based palliative care programs are often reimbursed through privately managed care plans, and to date, only five states include community-based palliative care in their Medicaid programs: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and Oregon. An additional seven more […]

The advance care planning tech company Koda Health is partnering with the AI-enabled health care services platform Guidehealth to enhance goals-of-care documentation. Through the partnership, Guidehealth’s Healthguides — a team of virtually embedded care navigators — will help patients and families navigate complex health care decisions, including end-of-life planning. “Once we leverage a lot of […]

Palliative psychiatry care approaches can be key to improving quality of life among patients with severe and persisting mental illness (SPMI). However, a lack of standardized quality measures for these care models is challenging the ability to measure efficacy. Widespread misconceptions about palliative care are a larger hurdle preventing greater collaborations with behavioral health providers, […]

Heart to Heart Hospice’s return on investment in its community-based palliative care service line has come in the form of improved quality and financial outcomes. The Texas-based hospice’s InHome Connect Palliative Care brand has led to significant declines in capitated per member per month (PMPM) costs and positive trends in timely access. The results are […]