C-TAC Update: Advanced Illness in the News
A Family’s Struggle: Dealing With End of Life
Huffington Post: Healthy Living Blog -12/9/2013
Keywords: care options, end-of-life, caregiving
Most weeks, I discuss matters of heart health. This week, I turn the spotlight on something closer to my heart: the end-of-life care for my mother. I offer the lessons my family learned the hard way and suggestions for anyone who is – or could be – facing similar challenges. As families gather for the holidays, perhaps some are facing difficult circumstances, and this may be an opportune moment for these types of discussions. Read the full article here.
Opportunity Knocks at Home: How Home-Based Primary Care Offers a Win-Win for U.S. Health Care
Brookings: Governance Studies – 12/2013
Keywords: clinical models, financing healthcare, policy and advocacy
At a time when so many of the country’s health-care and fiscal problems seem intractable, this paper surfaces some good news. A win-win alternative, one that can reduce both cost and suffering, is at hand. With some nudging, it could move fairly rapidly into the mainstream of health care. Home-based primary care, as this alternative approach is called, is “one of the big opportunities in health care.” Read the full article here.
Integrating Palliative Care Into Nursing Homes: Challenges And Opportunities
Health Affairs Blog – 12/2/2013
Keywords: care options, policy and advocacy
Although growing numbers of nursing home residents are accessing Medicare’s hospice benefit before death, substantial barriers continue to impede the meaningful integration of palliative and hospice care into the long-term services and supports that most nursing home residents receive. Read more about three models for delivering palliative care in nursing homes with policy recommendations for successful integration here.
The Hospital Is No Place for the Elderly
The Atlantic – 11/20/2013
Keywords: care options, advanced illness management
Brad Stuart, MD, is a leader in a growing movement advocating home-based primary care, which represents a fundamental change in the way we care for people who are chronically very ill. The idea is simple: rather than wait until people get sick and need hospitalization, you build a multidisciplinary team that visits them at home, coordinates health-related services, and tries to nip problems in the bud. Read the article here.
Medicare Seeks To Curb Spending On Post-Hospital Care
Kaiser Health News – 12/1/2013
Keywords: healthcare financing, care options,
Medicare per capita spending on nursing homes, home health services and other medical care, collectively known as post-acute or post-hospital care, has grown at 5 percent a year or faster in 34 of the nation’s 50 most populous hospital markets in recent years, according to an analysis health care economist Chapin White conducted for Kaiser Health News. Read the full article here.
A higher power will deliver me.
The Washington Post – 11/21/2012
Keywords: interfaith and diversity, care options, end-of-life
A new survey on end-of-life issues, released Thursday (Nov. 21) by the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, bears this out: Blacks and Hispanics are twice as likely as white Protestants, Catholics and people of no religious identity to insist that doctors do everything possible to stave off death, even in the face of incurable disease and great pain. Read the full article here.
Who will care for America’s aging population?
The Washington Post – 11/21/2013
Keyword: caregiving, care options, healthcare financing
The federally appointed bipartisan group, The Commission on Long-Term Care gave its final report to Congress, writing that in today’s system, services and supports “are highly fragmented and difficult for individuals and family caregivers to access” and that the system “lack[s] the focus and coordination across agencies and providers necessary to ensure the best outcomes for the person and family.” Services are also “provided in ways that can be expensive and inefficient.” Read the full article here.
Views on End-of-Life Medical Treatments: Growing Minority of Americans Say Doctors Should Do Everything Possible to Keep Patients Alive
Pew Research: Religion and Public Life Project – 11/21/2013
Keyword: interfaith and diversity, care options
At a time of national debate over health care costs and insurance, a Pew Research Center survey on end-of-life decisions finds most Americans say there are some circumstances in which doctors and nurses should allow a patient to die. At the same time, however, a growing minority says that medical professionals should do everything possible to save a patient’s life in all circumstances. Read more on the polling and analysis of the report here.
For Those at Death’s Door, a Case for ‘Life Panels’
The New York Times – 11/19/2013
Keywords: care options, advanced care planning, financial planning
I am staking a claim on the name life panel, because the concept of death panels has been so irresponsibly bandied about during debates about the government’s involvement in health care. But I really do not want to discuss politics here. I am a financial planner, and I want to focus on money. Read Bob Goldman’s full essay here.
How doctors die
The New York Times – 11/19/2013
Keywords: care options, advanced care planning, healthcare financing
When it comes to dying, doctors, of course, are ultimately no different from the rest of us. And their emotional and physical struggles are surely every bit as wrenching. But they have a clear advantage over many of us. They have seen death up close. They understand their choices, and they have access to the best that medicine has to offer. Read the full article here.
