Hospice Management Advisor Archives – January 1, 2003
January 1, 2003
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Report card gives states low grades in providing end-of-life care
A state-by-state report card on hospice services shows most states are doing a poor job of caring for the dying. According to the report, patients are spending less time in hospice care than they did in the early 1980s when the movement first started in the United States. -
How some states fared: Lousy to above average
Even states that ranked high in hospice use earned low grades overall on a national report card prepared by the Last Acts organization in Washington, DC. -
Lack of pediatric care makes bad situation worse
When Katie Westbrook was 14 years old, she and her mother, Beth Westbrook, made a monumental decision together. Katie, who had been battling osteosarcoma since she was 12, had already endured several rounds of chemotherapy, surgery to remove a tumor in her lower back, a leg amputation, and an inoperable tumor in her neck. She decided she was ready for hospice. -
Reimbursement attitudes may be changing
Most hospices that provide pediatric palliative care must do so without reimbursement. But there are trends that suggest the days of care wholly subsidized by community support may be on its way out. -
Don’t let ‘call aversion’ hinder your fundraising
t happens to the best of us. You need to call a potential donor, but you just cant seem to pick up the phone. You stare at it. You find another task to complete. You procrastinate. Something, anything seems better that having to make your calls. The mental anguish is almost unbearable. -
Lawsuits over withholding support are called myths
Health care providers are understandably concerned about the legal climate in which they live, observes Marshall B. Kapp, JD, MPH, professor in the department of community health at Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, OH.