Ohio's Hospice’s Post

Regulators think they are doing good. The outcome, however, is generally the opposite of the intent. The 3.48 hours per resident day staffing rule has just been finalized for nursing homes. This will have the effect of shutting down single-entity non-profits captained by local or religiously affiliated boards who do not have the resources and also rural communities (who will use the exemption until it burns off). As such, there will be less supply of care while the demand for it is only increasing which will probably put a higher burden on emergency care sourced at acute care hospitals. https://lnkd.in/eA5TxQDU

A common misconception about hospice care is you must go to a facility to live out the rest of your days. And that’s just not the whole truth. There are four levels of hospice care and, believe it or not, most patients receive hospice care at home. 1️⃣ Routine home care – our interdisciplinary team (doctor, nurse, hospice aide, social worker, chaplain, bereavement counselor, volunteer) visits you in your home and works hand-in-hand with your family to ensure you receive the necessary care 2️⃣ Continuous crisis care – if a patient is experiencing a temporary crisis with symptoms, eight hours per day of nursing care may be provided; when the crisis is over, routine home care resumes 3️⃣ General inpatient care – this level of care is reserved for patients who have unrelieved symptoms that cannot be managed at home; patients will be admitted to our inpatient unit on a short-term basis; once symptoms are under control, routine home care resumes 4️⃣ Respite care – provides relief for families who may need to rest and recharge; patients will stay for up to five days in our inpatient unit in the Texas Medical Center to receive care Our goal is to make sure each and every hospice patient receives exactly the level of care they need. #endoflife #hospice #hospicecare #hospicelife #houstonhospice

Can you imagine serving this country and still paying out of pocket for caregiving services when you need it??!!! This actually happens ALOT!!!! But did you know that if you are…. ➡️ A Veteran ➡️ Honorably discharged ➡️ Have all your discharge paperwork etc. That you can potentially qualify for services at home??? Check out this quick video as our administrator walks through VA homemaker, respite and skilled services at home. If you are in the Dallas area there are great tips in this video for you!!! Link in comments below 👇🏽 👇🏽👇🏽

We'll be unfolding this series over the next four weeks, tackling everything from #access and #staffing to possible #technology solutions and potential payment reforms that could put rural #nursinghomes on more solid footing. What else should be part of this critical conversation? #longtermcare #ruralhealth  #skillednursing  #seniors

Selecting the Best Hospice Company for our loved ones is crucial for ensuring their comfort and receiving quality care. These six questions can serve as a valuable guide in finding the ideal hospice provider. - How long has the hospice been in operation? - Is the hospice Medicare-certified? - What is the expectation about the family’s role in caregiving? - Can the hospice meet your specific needs? - Does the hospice prepare families for the death of a patient if there is not a member of the hospice team on site? - How does the hospice measure and track quality? Or you can book a consultation with us to know how you will get all these services from Care Must. #hospice #caremust #caretaker #hospicecare #hospicesupport #elderlycare #elderlycare #ElderlyParents #palliative #nursinghome #caremust

A shout-out to all informal unpaid carers - supporting anyone receiving a care package under the Care Act or NHS Continuing Healthcare arrangements Please look at our campaign for Édbhinne - a woman getting CHC at home, with supposedly constant nursing care. We're helping her parents to use the law, to make it clear that the public law rules which underpin the duty to provide a lawful, evidence-based and sufficient budget which meets needs and promotes wellbeing under the Care Act, apply equally to CHC patients. Édbhinne's family - her parents and siblings, have basically filled all the gaps in the budget offered by the ICB, in order to keep her adequately safe and well, because the ICB won't take steps to ensure that the needs are met with a realistic rate for care. Édbhinne's parents will bring their own claim for reimbursement of a fair rate for care, for the thousands of hours by which the ICB has been unjustly enriched by their own labour. But right now they just want to raise money for her own claim - so that their daughter's rights to a lawful care plan, going forward, are upheld. We need the fund to reach the target in the next 30 days, or else none of the pledges count at all! Please give generously and share in all carers' groups - https://buff.ly/42NImVa

Caregiving for a loved one who is receiving hospice care can be physically and emotionally demanding. It is important for caregivers to take care of themselves in order to be able to provide the best possible care for their loved ones. Here are a few tips for self-care for caregivers: https://lnkd.in/gxmpg2KD #Caregivers #FamilyCaregivers #CaregiverResources #MentalHealth #Wellness

Very good question they pose about why we don’t bring it up sooner. There are, I am sure, many factors but one may be housed in drivers of reimbursement that include patient satisfaction. As a hospitalist, there are 2 consults I never place without talking to patients about it first, psychiatry and palliative. Doing so can set up our consultants for failure. I once read an article to FMA where they were discussing the impact satisfaction scoring had on talking to patients about vices. Many doctors didn’t have talks because of how it can impact satisfaction scores. Or they may “have the conversation” but it only entails pointing out vices and that they should stop them. I correlate this because vices can be a sensitive topic too. My take is that lash back/fear are signs of an unintentionally inappropriate communication style with patients that triggers them. I wasn’t always good in my approach. I had plenty of times where a patient got upset over discussions about their mental health, vices, and hospice. I once dreaded these conversations too. Now, I became adept at having the conversation by learning from my mistakes. In fact I now have many instances whereby patients/families appreciate my conversation more than my palliative and psychiatric colleagues. I have “convinced” many patients whom others couldn’t to enter hospice including one that people gave up on thinking they could convince who felt no suffering but was in a static state of no improvement or further decline. I was able to guide them and their family to choosing hospice after a few days engaging with them and getting to understand their mindset and understanding about their condition. The patient themselves was the one needing to be convinced when it’s usually the family. The primary question typically is whether the patient is suffering. Patients define quality of life differently. I’ve had many instances whereby I had patients whom frequently came back to the hospital but they still felt that they had good quality of life and families did not feel they were a burden. In the end the patients determine their quality of life, not us. It is also their perception that matters most, not our intent. The moment you switch perspectives in approaching patient communication (from primary focus on their perception from your intent) the quicker you actually improve the impact on your patients (and subsequently satisfaction scores). I have no issues with having hard discussions with my patients because I learned over time how to approach the conversation without triggering them. I also make it a point to stress to them that their perception matters most to me and I want their input about the situation we are discussing. You have to give them a sense that you are wanting to work with them not just telling them what to do. All things are possible. Cicero once said in his “Six mistakes of man” that you should not believe something is impossible because you yourself cannot accomplish it.

A shout-out to all informal unpaid carers - supporting anyone receiving a care package under the Care Act or NHS Continuing Healthcare arrangements Please look at our campaign for Édbhinne - a woman getting CHC at home, with supposedly constant nursing care. We're helping her parents to use the law, to make it clear that the public law rules which underpin the duty to provide a lawful, evidence-based and sufficient budget which meets needs and promotes wellbeing under the Care Act, apply equally to CHC patients. Édbhinne's family - her parents and siblings, have basically filled all the gaps in the budget offered by the ICB, in order to keep her adequately safe and well, because the ICB won't take steps to ensure that the needs are met with a realistic rate for care. Édbhinne's parents will bring their own claim for reimbursement of a fair rate for care, for the thousands of hours by which the ICB has been unjustly enriched by their own labour. But right now they just want to raise money for her own claim - so that their daughter's rights to a lawful care plan, going forward, are upheld. We need the fund to reach the target in the next 30 days, or else none of the pledges count at all! Please give generously and share in all carers' groups - https://buff.ly/42NImVa

As an Emergency Medicine physician, and daughter of a patient who was placed on hospice, I see poor families on the regular where the slow decline of their family members had been clearly evident and yet, so many patients, families and health care providers are too busy, or too uncomfortable to recommend this vital resource. If you are having trouble with this discussion, please consider reading @Atul Gawande's Being Mortal. Highly Recommend!