Advance care planning, done effectively, can reduce aggressive treatments as patients near the end of life, recent research has found. Researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Nursing recently conducted a meta-analysis of studies involving more than 33,000 cancer patients to evaluate the relationship between advance care planning and utilization of aggressive […]

Dr. Jennifer Reidy believes that anyone who graduates from medical school should be able to lead effective, compassionate conversations with people with serious illnesses. As the chair of the Massachusetts Medical School Collaborative and an associate professor at UMass Chan Medical School, she is leading an effort to integrate palliative care into the core medical […]

The New Jersey legislature is considering a bill that would create a community-based palliative care benefit within the state’s Medicaid program. A state Senate committee has voted to move forward with the bill, S-3729A, introduced by Democratic State Senator Richard Codey. “Palliative care in the home or the local community can dramatically improve the quality […]

Palliative care utilization in ovarian cancer patients can lower their chances of rehospitalizations, according to recent data. Patients with ovarian cancer who have received palliative care had fewer hospital readmissions compared to others, according to a recent study presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer from the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) in […]

Hospices are increasingly eying palliative care as a promising growth opportunity, prioritizing expansion in that field over other health care service lines. More than half (56%) of hospice care professionals indicated that they planned to launch palliative care programs during 2023 in this year’s Hospice News Industry Outlook Survey, prepared in collaboration with Homecare Homebase. […]

Data collection and analysis are becoming increasingly important to palliative care providers’ clinical and business processes. This trend has led to many new partnerships that have helped companies make better-informed decisions for patients. Recently, Sharon S. Richardson Community Hospice entered into a partnership with the tech company WellSky, using a predictive analytics platform to identify […]

Two years ago, CEO Jonathan Fluhart and COO Tiffany Hughes launched PalliCare to fill a need in the home-based care space. The company employs nurse practitioners and other clinicians to provide palliative care in the home. At the same time, PalliCare helps nurse practitioners interested in setting up their own palliative care practices. The provider’s […]

The Miriam Hospital is launching a program that combines palliative care and emergency medical services. The Rhode Island-based hospital is piloting a new approach for its emergency department (ED) patients that provides palliative care options for those with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Through the program, the HopeHealth palliative care team at The Miriam Hospital will […]

Federal regulators are cracking down on the private insurers that administer Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. In turn, that could dampen the growth of palliative care supplemental benefits in MA moving forward. Despite palliative care’s ability to lower health care spending and improve patient outcomes, it remains an underutilized service. That’s partly because providers are forced […]

While providers and payers do what they can to scale palliative care, ultimately, payment reform will be “critical,” according to Dr. Glen Digwood, division chief of palliative care at Geisinger’s Wyoming Valley Medical Center. Geisinger is a nationally recognized health system headquartered in Danville, Pennsylvania, that currently serves more than 1 million people in its […]