Patients are more likely to create an advance care plan if they receive nurse-led palliative care services versus those who had standard care alone. Among patients who received palliative services, a recent three-month assessment found significant increases in the number who participated in end-of-life conversations and completed advance care plans, according to research published in […]

The Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization (ACO) has leveraged a comprehensive, community-based palliative care program developed by its partner Main Line Health to reduce costs of care by $9,000 per eligible patient. Among Delaware Valley’s palliative care recipients, hospital admissions were 50% lower and emergency department visits fell by 35%, generating about $9,000 in savings […]

Homebase Medical, a subsidiary of SCAN Group, is developing a new palliative model to care for some of the Medicare Advantage organization’s most vulnerable beneficiaries. This development comes as SCAN, the parent company of SCAN Health Plan, prepares to combine with fellow nonprofit CareOregon, which has a large Medicaid portfolio. Post-transaction, the combined organization will […]

North Carolina-headquartered Novant Health has launched a new palliative care program to help improve quality of life for patients with heart failure. The health system is rolling out the new program in partnership with hospice and palliative care provider Lower Cape Fear LifeCare. The two nonprofit organizations developed it to expand access and care options […]

Recent research has found that varying state laws around palliative care can impact cancer patients’ place of death. Cancer patients in states with laws that require health care providers to provide palliative consultations were more likely to die in the home or in an inpatient hospice setting versus the hospital, a JAMA Network Open study […]

In New Jersey, a partnership between a health services company and a nursing home is offering a new approach to long-term illness, tailoring palliative care treatment plans to individual patients.  Samaritan Health Services Partners, a not-for-profit complex illnesses company, and Laurel Brook Rehab, a 220-bed facility in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, have joined together to […]

Current clinical education models do not sufficiently prepare medical professionals to either understand or deliver the full scope of palliative care services, according to researchers from the University of Michigan. Most clinicians receive little to no exposure to palliative care during their training. This lack of exposure to palliative care has led to widespread misunderstanding […]

Four U.S. senators have introduced a bipartisan bill that would direct the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to develop a palliative care-specific payment model demonstration. The bill’s sponsors include Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), John Barrasso (R-Wy.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.). The four legislators in 2019 co-founded the Senate’s bipartisan Comprehensive […]

Integrating palliative consultations into care management for heart failure patients improves utilization and fosters greater understanding among referring clinicians, research from the Veteran Affairs (VA) Connecticut Healthcare System has found. VA Connecticut Healthcare System researchers recently rolled out the educational study to determine whether consultative services would boost palliative care referrals for hospital-based heart failure […]

Amid a rash of financial headwinds, Forks Community Hospital is investing in a palliative care program.  This decision came after physicians at the Washington state-based hospital noticed a troubling trend: People with chronic conditions often come to the emergency room in a crisis because no one provides the care they need in the home setting. […]