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All of the accountable care principles that are integrated into the Affordable Care Act (ACA) require a clinical approach to the sickest, most complex, and costliest patients, says Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, because they all begin to move the system away from the fee-for-service model.
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Understanding your own cultural beliefs and biases about pain is an important first step in accurately assessing a hospice patient's pain levels, says Mary Curry Narayan, MSN, RN, HHCNS-BC, a clinical education and transcultural nurse specialist and owner, Narayan Associates in Vienna, VA and author of "Culture's Effects on Pain Assessment and Management."
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A new scoring system that can more accurately predict the life expectancy of a patient with advanced cancer in terms of "days," "weeks," and "months" is described in an article published in BMJ.
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Palliative care was only recognized as a specialty 5 years ago by the American College of Graduate Medical Education. Because of its newness, those working in the specialty are still learning how to effectively collect data and make use of the information once they have collected it.
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The Circle of Life Award celebrates programs across the nation that has made great strides in palliative and end-of-life care. This is the 12th year for the Circle of Life Award.
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A program that sends geriatricians and nurse practitioners into the homes of high-risk, frail elderly patients has resulted in a 195% return on investment (ROI) for Fallon Community Health Plan in Worcester, MA.
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A $1.3 million cut in an annual budget is no easy feat, but management at Horizon Home Care & Hospice in Brown Deer, WI, was able to make the cut without affecting quality or requiring across the board staff layoffs.
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When the money is flowing you don't always look closely at what you spend," admits Mary Haynor, president and chief executive officer of Horizon Home Care & Hospice in Brown Deer, WI, an agency that cut $1.3 million out of the annual budget in early 2010. "It is hard, time-consuming work to evaluate all of your costs but when you do, you see how the little things add up," she admits.
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For patients with severe heart failure, an implanted mechanical pump known as a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) can be a life-sustaining treatment.
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The goal of hospice care is to help terminally ill beneficiaries continue life with minimal disruption and to support beneficiaries' families and caregivers throughout the entire process.
