Hospice Management Advisor Archives – March 1, 2008
March 1, 2008
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Hospice and long-term partnerships work well with attention to details
(Editor's note: This month we begin a two-month look at partnerships between hospice agencies and long-term care providers. This issue contains stories related to key issues to address in developing and maintaining relationships between hospice agencies and long-term care facilities, including potential legal risks as well as tips to strengthen relationships. Next month, we look at a hospice agency that has developed an inpatient hospice unit within a long-term care facility.) -
Carefully select long-term care partners
Any contract with another organization requires careful attention to details, regulations, and legal issues, but hospice agencies need to pay special attention when contracting with a long-term care facility to provide services, says Meg S.L. Pekarske, JD, an attorney with Reinhart Boerner in Madison, WI. -
Address specifics of patient care up front
Four years of a program focused on partnerships with long-term care facilities and contracts with 88 different facilities has taught the staff at Hospice Care in Madison, WI, a few tricks on how best to manage multiple relationships in different areas. -
Bunnies and bears help children face grief
"I don't want to go to no stupid funeral." These words uttered by a key character in a puppet show convinced Penne Williams, LCSW, an instructor at University of South Florida at Lakeland, that the puppet show used by LifePath Hospice and Palliative Care in Tampa, FL, is exactly what is needed to help many children handle their grief. -
Turning 'green': Howto help the environment
Although patient care is the No. 1 priority for hospice managers and staff members, a growing number of health care employees are recognizing that their workday activities can affect more than a patient's health — they can affect the environment. -
Tips for safe disposal of pharmaceuticals at home
The following guidelines are recommended by the Drug and Food Administration (FDA) for disposal of medications. -
Nurse admits stealing body parts, forging papers
A nurse in Philadelphia has admitted that he removed body parts from 244 corpses and then helped forge the paperwork that would allow those parts to be transplanted. -
Nonhospital workers and bloodborne pathogens
In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health assessed the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens among nonhospital-based registered nurses (RNs), and found that nearly one out of 10 of the more than 1,100 nurse participants reported at least one needlestick injury in the previous 12 months. -
CMS publishes new fact sheet
The Hospice Payment System Fact Sheet, which offers providers information about the Medicare hospice benefit, is now available from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Learning Network. -
Medicare issues updates, revisions
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a revision to Transmittal 1304 (Change Request 5567) which was titled "Reporting of Additional Data to Describe Services on Hospice Claims."