Elements of an Effective Palliative Care Business Plan 

Health care providers that are investing in palliative care need to have an effective business plan to support their efforts. The content of these business plans can vary based on setting, such as inpatient hospitals or community-based programs, according to Brynn Bowman, CEO of the Center for Advance Palliative Care. But key elements in both […]

Study: DEDICATED Palliative Dementia Care Model Achieves Mixed Results

Research conducted in the Netherlands found that a unique dementia advanced care planning model held benefits for families and health care providers but did not significantly increase goals-of-care documentation. The Desired Dementia Care Towards End of Life model (DEDICATED) is designed to enhance patients’ quality of life by improving palliative care knowledge, competencies and interdisciplinary […]

‘It Takes a Village’: The Need to Expand Community-Based Pediatric Palliative Care

Similar to adults, many seriously ill children prefer to die in the home versus in facility-based care settings. But several barriers are preventing greater access to goal-concordant, community-based pediatric palliative care delivery. The challenges in some ways mirror issues among adult populations such as insufficient clinical resources, caregiver burden or lagging family support in the […]

A Framework for Scaling Palliative Care Via Medicaid

States can adopt a specific framework to help scale palliative care via Medicaid, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs. Currently, the ability to scale palliative care nationally is limited by several obstacles. Among them are lack of awareness and workforce shortages. Another barrier is low reimbursement through Medicare that only covers physician […]

Bringing Palliative Care to Nursing Homes

Some palliative care providers have fueled stronger referral efforts in skilled nursing facility settings as a way to reach patients sooner in their serious illness trajectories. Measuring the impacts of these efforts has come with various challenges. Timely identification of potential palliative needs in nursing homes is critical to supporting rising demand for serious illness […]

‘Moving Mountains’ to Understand Pediatric Palliative Patient Preferences

Gauging pediatric patient preferences can come with nuanced challenges as palliative care providers contend with a lack of consistent, standardized measures for these populations. Measurement of pediatric palliative care preferences is evolving compared to adult populations, said Dr. Toluwalasé Ajayi, director of pediatric palliative care and interim chief of palliative medicine at Rady Children’s Hospital-San […]

How Palliative Care Can Differentiate Hospices in the Marketplace

Potential referral partners and investors often see palliative care as a value-add for a hospice, home health agency or other provider. Palliative programs are difficult to manage as a standalone business due to the lack of a robust reimbursement model. Most palliative care programs are reimbursed through fee-for-service Medicare, which only covers physician or nurse […]

‘Profound Disparities’ Fueling Greater Palliative Spiritual Care Innovation

Palliative care models are increasingly deepening the integration of a more diverse range of spiritual support, but reimbursement obstacles are stymieing innovative progress. This is according to Sarah Byrne-Martelli, palliative care researcher at the Center for Aging & Serious Illness at Massachusetts General Hospital. She previously served as senior chaplain for the hospital’s division of […]