3 Trends Driving End-of-Life Care Delivery

Recent research has found hospice care delivery trends related to social determinants of health, morality and a complex health care system. Global Home-Based Care Disparities Despite many individuals’ preferences to die at home, global patient data trends have revealed that this rarely occurs. Limited access and social support are among the prominent barriers. Social determinants […]

Hospice Quality Concerning in Assisted Living Facilities

Patients receiving hospice in one of the most common end-of-life care settings may not be receiving adequate services. Researchers from Ohio University and the University of Rochester recently examined Medicare claims and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) data of 51,303 assisted living residents who received hospice care from 2018 to 2019. Quality […]

Opioid Regulations Create Barriers for Pain Relief for Palliative Care Patients

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 […]

An ‘Urgent Need’ for Palliative Care, Heart Failure Care Integration

Patients with heart failure have multifaceted needs that could be better addressed with stronger palliative care collaborations, recent research has found. Integrating palliative care (PC) services alongside heart failure (HF) management has been associated with improved patient satisfaction and symptom control, as well as more informed decision-making processes throughout the disease trajectory. This according to […]

Hospice Quality, Access Concerns Abound Among D-SNP, Advanced Cancer, Native Hawaiians Patients

Recent research findings are increasingly getting to the root causes of varying hospice outcomes among diverse patient populations and health care settings. Quality inequities among special needs, dually-eligible beneficiaries Dually-eligible Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries may have a lower likelihood of receiving care from high-quality hospice providers, according to a recent analysis. Dual eligible beneficiaries are […]

Dementia Support Gaps Compromise Hospice Care, Help Inform GUIDE Models

Individuals with Alzheimer’s and dementia-related conditions could benefit from stronger caregiver programs upstream of end-of-life care. This is according to recent research findings, which could help inform approaches to care under the new Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) payment model. Current dementia care models have room for improvement when it comes to support for […]

Global Challenges Persist in Bringing Hospice Care to Incarcerated Populations

Swelling incarcerated aging populations with unmet end-of-life care needs are straining prison systems worldwide. Recent research has uncovered some of the common strategies to address the issue that are being employed across the globe. More countries have adopted peer caregiving as a way to provide improved support for terminally ill incarcerated individuals, according to researcher […]

Hospice Underutilized by Patients with Several Types of Conditions

Terminally ill patients often lack a firm understanding and awareness about their end-of-life care options, a trend researchers across the world are examining more closely. Underserved neurological patients Patients with neurodegenerative diseases are less likely to receive hospice care compared to others, according to a recent study published in the Neurology journal. The study spanned […]

3 Quality Keys Driving Hospice Staff, Family Caregiver Satisfaction

Research has uncovered common threads of quality impacts among the largest hospices nationwide as providers employ a range of initiatives to uproot the underlying causes of staff and family caregiver dissatisfaction. Strong communication, streamlined operational processes and an encouraging organizational culture are three significant drivers of positive end-of-life experiences for families and staff alike, according […]

Hospice Researchers Seek to Untangle Possible Relationships Between Tax Status and Outcomes

Stakeholders and policymakers who shape the hospice industry are making connections between a provider’s tax status and quality indicators. Their perceptions could have significant repercussions on the outlook of hospice investments. More private equity (PE) investors have stepped into the hospice and home health space in recent years. This trend extends across the broader health […]