The recently confirmed U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has outlined several priorities that dovetail with the largest challenges facing today’s palliative care patient populations. Significant opportunities exist to improve serious illness care delivery for chronically ill and medically complex individuals across the country, according to Kennedy. Increased […]

Des Moines, Iowa-based WesleyLife at Home has launched the area’s first home-based palliative care program. The organization is the fourth-largest home health provider in the state, according to Aaron Wheeler, vice president of home- and community-based services. While analyzing their home health census, the organization identified a significant number of patients with chronic medical conditions […]

Palliative care providers are taking varied routes to address the most disruptive forces they are encountering this year, rising to challenges that have been persistent across the sector. Mounting workforce pressures mark the most significant of concerns for palliative care providers, according to Dr. Martha Twaddle, The Waud Family Medical Directorship’s palliative medicine and supportive […]

A recently introduced Congressional budget has proposed cuts to the tune of more than $880 billion in Medicaid funding. If enacted, the legislative move could compromise access to palliative care and the future outlook of innovation in the space. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland) sponsored the newly proposed budget for Fiscal Years 2025 through 2034, which […]

Michigan-based Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital program has expanded and diversified the scope of its pediatric services during the last decade of operations. Delivering goal concordant care has been the largest strategic lever to its growth. The health system provides pediatric palliative care, as well as primary, urgent and virtual care, behavioral health, cancer […]

A recent research project that combined palliative care with dementia care management reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations by half among its patient population. Dubbed the IN-PEACE program, or the Indiana Palliative Excellence in Alzheimer Care Efforts, the research sought to measure the potential impact of combining palliative care with an enhanced dementia care model. […]

Partnerships between health care providers and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) can help to create effective, value-based palliative care models for patients, but navigating the development of those relationships requires communication and a true commitment to collaboration. These opportunities extend across both the inpatient and community-based settings, with a mind toward improving quality and improving patients’ […]

Wider utilization of telepalliative services could help ease family caregiver burdens and improve quality among seriously ill patient populations, research has found. Researchers have increasingly dug into the quality impacts of virtual palliative care delivery and how telehealth outcomes compare to in-person care. Telepalliative care models helped to improve experiences among lung cancer patients’ family […]

The Pennant Group (Nasdaq: PNTG) has been quietly building palliative care programs driven by its local leaders with support from the corporate office’s Service Center. Pennant is the holding company for a group of independent hospice, home health and senior living providers located across 13 states. The company currently holds 115 hospice and home health […]

Family caregiver support is lacking across organ transplant centers nationwide. The trend represents significant unmet needs that some say palliative care providers are well-positioned to fill. Transplant caregivers navigate a complex range of medical and nonmedical needs, and often receive fragmented support, according to Yadira Montoya, programs director at the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) […]