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VA Study Finds 95% Increase in Palliative Care Utilization When Patients Have Access to Social Workers

Hospice News

Patients are more likely to receive palliative care if they can access social workers through their primary care providers, Veterans Health Administration (VA) research has found. These findings suggest that social workers may increase access to and/or use of palliative care.”.

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How Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Built an Award-Winning Palliative Program

Hospice News

Wu added that with only 10 members, the palliative care team is “small but mighty” and includes physicians, a nurse practitioner, a nurse social worker, a pharmacist, a chaplain and an administrator.

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Hospices Stepping Up Performance on Visits-in-Last-Days-of-Life Measure

Hospice News

The number of registered nurse and social worker visits during a patient’s final week is one of the seven quality measures that CMS uses to evaluate providers. In 2019, for example, the percentage was 66%. Social worker visits in the last days of life also rose to 9% in 2021, up from 7% in 2020.

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Homeland at Home Launches Community-Based Palliative Care Program

Hospice News

The provider’s palliative care team includes a physician medical director, social worker and nurse practitioners who now offer in-home palliative care to adult patients 18 and older facing a serious illness. “As Homeland previously provided facility-based palliative services and is now stepping into the home.

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The Case for Integrating Social Determinants Into Palliative Care

Hospice News

Individually, palliative care and social determinants programs both have the potential to improve quality of life and reduce costs — but that potential may be greater when the two are combined. Programs to address social determinants have likewise been found to reduce health care expenditures. Case in point, the U.S.

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Senate Again Takes Up Hospice, Palliative Staffing Bill

Hospice News

If enacted, PCHETA would support hospice and palliative care training programs for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and chaplains. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) The bill would also expand continuing education and career development programs and incentives in these fields.

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Psychedelics, Cannabis Show Promise in End-of-Life Care, But More Research Needed on the Risks

Hospice News

Researchers have identified a number of clinical benefits, including reduction of anxiety, depression and improved acceptance of mortality, according to a 2019 literature review in the journal Current Oncology. What hospices need to be aware of is that it’s not just the big picture, but also the little picture,” Ballentine told Hospice News.