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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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Researchers say there need to be more clinical trials examining the safety and effectiveness of pain medications used with children, which are too often administered based on information from adult trials.
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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.
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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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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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Medicare spending on hospice care for nursing facility residents has grown nearly 70% since 2005. Additionally, hundreds of hospices had a high percentage of their patients residing in nursing facilities, and most of these hospices were for-profit.
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Hospices serving people with Medicare will see a 2.5% increase in their Medicare payments for fiscal year (FY) 2012, according to a final regulation released July 29, 2011, by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Hospices also are called upon to begin reporting on the quality of care received by Medicare patients as a result of this final regulation.
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This is the second of a two-part series that looks at communicating with patients who have difficulty communicating. Last month, we looked at innovative and proven strategies to communicate with patients who have dementia. This month, tips and strategies for communicating with pediatric patients, and their families, are offered.
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More than a third of Americans now die under the care of a hospice service. But a University of Michigan study reveals major gaps in the availability of hospice care across the country gaps that the researchers attribute directly to the way hospice care is currently funded in America.
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The Hospice Foundation of America has developed "Hospice Volunteers: Recruiting, Retaining, Rewarding," a free on-line webinar that examines the important role that volunteers play in hospice, and explores creative ways that hospices can recruit and retain volunteers.
