While a critical service for patients with serious illnesses, palliative care is vastly underutilized nationwide. Providers have gotten creative in their efforts to improve utilization, with some incorporating pets into nursing visits with patients. Lacking public awareness and patient misconceptions are among the leading causes for lagging palliative care utilization. Many patients and families don’t […]
Set to expire later this month, the public health emergency (PHE) is likely to continue, along with regulatory waivers that expanded telehealth utilization and streamlined other health care processes. As they await word, providers are growing increasingly concerned about the future of those flexibilities, and the potential financial and operational impacts if they go away […]
The United States lacks a robust reimbursement system for palliative care. While stakeholders work toward change, providers are developing innovative ways to work with what they have to bring this care to patients in need. Historically, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reimbursed palliative care through a fee-for-service model that only […]
On April 16 the United States observes National Health Care Decisions Day to foster awareness that patients and families have the right to discuss and document their wishes for the care they will receive at the end of life. True to form, hospices are at the forefront, encouraging patients, families and their clinicians to choose […]
Investors have paid more and more attention to end-of-life care companies and advanced care businesses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest example of this trend played out on Monday, with Palo Alto, California-based Vynca announcing it had raised another $30 million in growth capital. The investment was led by Questa Capital with […]
Demand for hospice and palliative care is rising in rural areas as they are for the rest of the country, but patients in those regions often lack access to care. Hospices trying to reach them often contend with lower patient volume and long travel times between home visits. While recent legislative action could make a […]
Access and quality of hospice care for patients with serious mental illness are rising concerns among providers. Hospices are increasingly recognizing the need to better understand the unique challenges these patients face as they reach the end of life, with cries for further research growing louder. Education and awareness around mental health will be key […]
Advance care planning technology company Vynca has purchased California-based palliative care and telehealth provider ResolutionCare for an undisclosed sum. This is Vynca’s first move into the clinical care space. Physician and entrepreneur Ryan Van Wert, M.D., co-founded Palo Alto, Calif.-based advance care planning solution developer Vynca in 2013 to create tech products to guide and […]
More hospices are expanding their advance care planning services as they ramp up participation in value-based payment programs such as Medicare Advantage, direct contracting and participation in Accountable Care Organizations. Several value-based models incorporate advance care planning, which is associated with reductions in the total cost of care and improvements in overall hospice utilization rates. […]
Vynca saw record growth during 2020, having generated more than 1.16 million end-of-life planning documents that year, up 64% from the previous 12 months. Advance care plans are a key tool in ensuring that patient choices are known and honored during the course of their serious or terminal illnesses. Often, the hard copy documents are […]
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