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Payments to home health agencies (HHAs) are estimated to decrease by approximately 2.31% or $430 million in calendar year (CY) 2012, the net effect of a 1.4% payment update, the wage index update, and the case-mix coding adjustment, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS).
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Patients and their caregivers sometimes have difficulty recalling details of their discharge instructions, a new study finds.
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A hospice can have encryption on all devices that include patient information as well as a full set of policies and procedures regarding the protection of patient information, but staff education is critical to ensure safety of data, says Brian Payne, chief executive officer at Winston-Salem Hospice and Palliative CareCenter in North Carolina.
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According to newly published research, a program created to communicate the treatment preferences of those with advanced illness or frailty ensures those preferences are honored 94% of the time. The Program, called Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST), was launched in Oregon almost 20 years ago.
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In April 2010, the laptop computer of a hospice nurse in the Chicago area was stolen. The theft of a mobile device is not that unusual.
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Parents are more likely to choose aggressive chemotherapy for their children who are in the palliative stage of cancer than the health care professionals caring for the children, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
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As the baby boomers reach retirement age, the senior population in this country is growing by leaps and bounds.
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Successful partnerships in health care occur when both organizations have the same high standards of care and philosophy. It is also important to stay in touch with your community and understand what information they want and need to make good decisions about care, points out Flint Besecker, chief executive officer of the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care in Cheektowaga, NY.
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Advance directives do have an impact on health care at the end of life, especially in regions of the country with high spending on end-of-life care, according to a University of Michigan study.
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Hospitalized patients who had conversations about religion and spirituality with the health care team were the most satisfied with their overall care. However, 20% of patients who would have valued these discussions say their desires went unmet, according to a new study by Joshua Williams from the University of Chicago and his colleagues.1 Their work appears on-line in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.