Category: News & Media

Home Care And End-of-Life Counseling

The Boston Globe has an excellent article up about in-home hospice and palliative care, and the importance of end-of-life counseling.

The article focuses on Plymouth resident Ed Pratt, who has terminal cancer.  After talking things over with his wife and doctor, he is now:

…immersed in the details of dying. As part of his hospice care, he and his wife met last month with a chaplain to work on Ed’s final wishes, a document that will span everything from bedside prayers to memorial service music. Ed receives regular visits from a registered nurse to oversee pain management, a home health aide who provides personal care, a social worker to address the family’s emotional needs, and volunteers who provide companionship (and a cribbage partner) when Catherine, a department manager at Target, is at work.

“She’s a real sweetheart,’’ Ed said of his home health aide. “She’s the reason I’m nice and clean-shaven. I’m gonna be a star . . .’’ he sang in a wobbly croon.

…

[Pratt is] dying his way – surrounded by family, unburdened by treatment, writing articles for the church bulletin. He’s even rediscovered his sense of humor.

“The cancer, it’s not a funny thing. But if you can crack a joke every once in a while,’’ he said, “you can go through it in a less stressful way.’’

NY Times: Daschle Advises on Reform, Supports Home Health

A New York Times article from August 22 highlights how former Senator and Health Secretary nominee Tom Daschle is still sought after for advice on health reform.

The story mentions Daschle’s support of the home health industry as a cost-effective service where funding should be increased and not cut.

Click here to read the NY Times article, which also briefly notes Daschle’s advice to NAHC (National Association for Home Care & Hospice) on how home health should be part of the solution of health reform.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Boston Globe Op-Ed: Latest Myth on Health Reform

The Boston Globe published an Op-Ed on what columnist Renee Loth writes is the latest myth of health care reform. Loth explains that the latest target for critics is shaping up to be an idea that reform will force taxpayers to subsidize abortion.

Loth writes:

The bills filed in various congressional committees are officially neutral on the question, neither requiring nor forbidding private insurance plans to offer abortion services. Isn’t that what the noisy critics of a “government takeover’’ of health care supposedly want: A free-market system that lets the consumer decide?

To read the full Op-Ed, click here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

A Guide to Comparing Three Health Care Bills

With so many pieces of legislation to keep track of and so many interests giving their thoughts and opinions on each, health care reform can get very confusing.

The Boston Globe has constructed a helpful table that helps people compare three health care reform proposals from the House Energy & Commerce Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Senate Health Committee.

Click here to view this table, which is available on the Boston Globe’s website, Boston.com.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

With Recent Hot Weather, Residents Urged to Check on Elderly

With temperatures reaching the 90’s, residents across Massachusetts are urged to check on elderly relatives, friends, and neighbors.

The state’s Department of Health and Human Services has posted a website on Summer Heat Precautions, which can be viewed by clicking here. Seniors in the city of Boston, where Mayor Tom Menino has declared a “heat emergency,” can call the Elderly Commission at 617-635-4366 or the city’s 24-hour hotline at 617-635-4500 for assistance.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Home Health Plays Critical Role in Patient Medication Adherence

The New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) recently completed a study finding that patients who do not take their medications as prescribed by their doctors cost the country’s health care system $290 billion per year.

NEHI conducted the study “Thinking Outside the Pillbox: A System-wide Approach to Improving Patient Medication Adherence for Chronic Disease,” which found that the billions of lost dollars come in the form of unnecessary hospitalizations and increased medical risks for the one-third to one-half of all patients who do not take their medications properly. The NEHI study also noted that creating “health care teams,” which would include home health workers among other health care professionals, is one of a few solutions to  improving medication adherence.

Click here to read the Alliance’s Press Release on the NEHI study.

Other solutions addressed in the NEHI study included patient engagement and education, payment reform where positive outcomes would be rewarded, and leveraging health information technologies like electronic health records.

To find out more about the study, visit http://www.nehi.net/.

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Health Care Reform Update: End-of-Life Provision Cut from Senate Proposal

Although a provision allowing Medicare to reimburse doctors who voluntarily counsel patients and their families on end-of-life issues and care was dropped from a Senate version of a health care reform proposal, a separate House version has kept it intact.

The Senate Finance Committee’s ranking Republican member, Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, said the provision could be “misinterpreted” and would not be included in the committee’s proposal.

According to the Boston Globe, the end-of life provision, written by Oregon Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer, would cover counseling sessions for end-of-life issues like “living wills, making a close relative or friend a health care proxy, hospice care, and information about medications for chronic pain.” The counseling sessions, the Globe reports, “would be covered by insurance every five years, and more frequently for the seriously ill.”

Thanks in part to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the provision was “misinterpreted” by many as Senator Grassley feared and subsequently spun into what has become known as the “death panels” proposal, where, Palin and others allege, the government would decide who is treated.

In the Globe article, Congressman Blumenauer dubbed references to the so-called death panels or euthanasia as “mind numbing” since “the bill would block funds for counseling that presents suicide or assisted suicide as an option.”

Click here to read the Boston Globe article on the end-of-life provision.

A Los Angeles television news station highlighted hospice care as a cost-saving alternative to expensive and extraneous treatment in their report on the end-of-life provision, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

State Steps Up Defense Against Flu

State public health officials have adopted emergency regulations to allow dentists, pharmacists and paramedics to provide the H1N1 flu vaccine for the upcoming fall flu season.

As reported on State House News and in the Boston Globe, the Public Health Council made the decision in light of budget resrictions and the need to protect millions of state residents against the H1N1 virus. According to State House News, the Springtime wave resulted in 1,383 confirmed cases and 10 deaths in Massachusetts.

The emergency regulations go into effect on September 14 and accompany an additional 75,000 doses of  the vaccine purchased by the Department of Public Health. The 885,000 doses this year are up from 810,000 doses a year ago. State House News reports that “Another 2.2 million doses are expected to come from the private sector, including commercial vaccinators, health care providers and health care facilities.”

For more information, click here to read the story from Boston.com on the new precautions.

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New Medicare Website Launched to Help Caregivers

A new website called “Ask Medicare” was recently launched as a resource and navigation tool for the millions of caregivers so that answers and information can be readily obtained for those who give much of their time caring for others.

Many features are available on the site, including help with billing, comparing drug plans, locating care, and even a chat room for caregivers to exchange their stories and experiences.

CNN did a report on the new website, which you can see by clicking here. The article focuses on Kim Mickens, a Baltimore woman who spends 40 hours per week caring for her mother Delphine who lives with Alzheimer’s disease.  Below a a brief clip from the CNN story:

Today, Mickens and her mother are a loving twosome. When Mickens is at work, she leaves Delphine with an in-home nurse and relies on her son to help out when he gets home from school. Mickens finally feels content about the quality of care her mother is getting, and she says it would have never happened so quickly had she not found the Ask Medicare Web site.

“I have no problems with it: Once I punch it in, it comes up and takes me out to all the different Web sites,” say Mickens. “It’s very helpful. I am glad they came up with it.”

Click here to visit the newly-launched “Ask Medicare” web tool for caregivers.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Eagle-Tribune Announces Home Care Manager of the Year

The Eagle-Tribune Online (North Andover, MA and area) announced Kathryn Baker of the VNA of Greater Lowell as the Home Care Alliance’s “Manager of the Year” in their business section.

Click here to the announcement.

Kathryn, known as “Katie” to her co-workers and friends, began her work at VNA of Greater Lowell 20 years ago as a physical therapist, was promoted to Rehabilitation Manager and again promoted to her current position as Director of Rehabilitation. She is now chair of the agency’s Policy and Procedure Committee and a member of the Performance Improvement Committee, Customer Service Committee, and Job Satisfaction Committee. Having earned the respect of her peers and employees, Kathryn’s rehabilitation staff has an excellent retention rate, according to VNA of Greater Lowell Executive Director Nancy Pettenelli, who said most of have been with the agency for more than 10 years.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.