Addressing the Needs of Dual Eligible Beneficiaries
Published September 14, 2022
Reading Time: 3 minutes The dual eligible population is one of the most vulnerable patient populations in the United States. Over the last decade, policymakers at both state and federal levels have worked hard to integrate Medicaid and Medicare benefits, administrative processes, and financing to improve and streamline care for the individuals simultaneously enrolled in both programs. However, more[…]
How to Promote Health Equity with Patient Decision Aids
Published May 16, 2022
Reading Time: 3 minutes Patients should never feel they have received suboptimal care or were treated differently because of their race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. However, healthcare disparities are an ongoing reality for minority and underserved communities throughout the United States. Findings from a 2019 report from the American Cancer Society revealed that although the overall cancer death rate[…]
Understanding the Obstacles to Telehealth
Published April 19, 2022
Reading Time: 3 minutes The COVID-19 pandemic forced clinicians to alter how they deliver healthcare, ushering in a new era of telehealth. The increased adoption of remote medical care revealed its enormous potential to transform healthcare delivery. Policy and regulatory flexibilities that were granted under the public health emergency declaration eased some of the biggest barriers to telehealth; however,[…]
3 Transformative Benefits of Telehealth
Published March 8, 2022
Reading Time: 3 minutes For many years, telehealth lingered on the fringes of healthcare. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. The utilization of telehealth services skyrocketed from less than one percent to as much as eighty percent of provider visits in the early months of the public health emergency as temporary policies were enacted to promote a safer mode of care delivery.[…]
Addressing Senior Loneliness and Isolation
Published January 20, 2022
Reading Time: 4 minutes Social isolation and loneliness are common problems among older adults and are linked to several health conditions, such as depression and heart disease. According to the CDC, social isolation is a lack of social connection, while loneliness is the feeling of being alone, regardless of the amount of social contact. Healthcare professionals can take steps[…]
The Crucial Role of Primary Palliative Care in Healthcare
Published November 5, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes In a perfect healthcare world, advance care planning conversations are initiated early in the patient journey, advance directives and health care proxies are documented, and the patient’s healthcare team has access to this information. The reality is far from ideal. Care decisions are often made in the hospital during a health crisis. There is little[…]
The HEDIS Advance Care Planning Measure: What it is and Why it Matters
Published September 14, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes Mrs. S., 68 years old, suffers from end-stage liver disease. Her husband, Mr. F., cares for her at home; however, it has been increasingly difficult for him as her condition has progressed and she has had to go to the hospital more frequently over the past year. While Mrs. S. has been making her own[…]
The Potential of Artificial Intelligence to Transform Advance Care Planning
Published August 13, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes While once the stuff of science fiction, there have been significant advances in artificial intelligence (AI) over the last several decades. Today, AI is transforming industrial sectors across the world, including finance, transportation, national security, travel, city management and healthcare. Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined by the English Oxford Living Dictionary as “the theory and[…]
4 Ways Advance Care Planning Helps Healthcare Organizations Improve Population Health
Published June 30, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes The drive toward value-based medicine has created a burgeoning field in healthcare known as population health management. Without question, delivering better outcomes at a reduced cost for a defined group of patients is an immense challenge. Patient populations take many forms and can be characterized by geographical region, employee pool, disease cohort, demographics, or socioeconomics.[…]
5 Policy and Legislative Actions to Watch in 2021 and Beyond
Published June 14, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes The past year brought unprecedented disruption to healthcare delivery and exposed gaps in equitable access to care. It also brought to light the need for greater care options for vulnerable populations and the importance of advance care planning earlier in a patient’s healthcare journey. All these issues are central to healthcare reform and public policy[…]
How Nurses Facilitate the Advance Care Planning Process
Published May 6, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes Nurses impact patient care and make a difference in peoples’ lives every single day. As front-line caregivers, they advocate for their patients and use evidence-based practices to promote optimal outcomes. Many provide skilled care and comfort for patients and their families at the end of life. Nurses are the ones always present at the bedside,[…]
A Public Health Approach to Advance Care Planning
Published April 26, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes Innovations in medicine and successful public health campaigns have contributed to increased life expectancy for Americans. As of 2019, the average life expectancy for someone born in the U.S. was 78.8 years (it dropped to 77.8 in 2020 primarily due to COVID-19). With advancing age comes an increase in chronic conditions that can lead to[…]
Boost Adoption of Healthcare Technology by Seniors
Published April 3, 2021
Reading Time: 3 minutes Healthcare technology for seniors plays an increasingly important role. The Baby Boomer generation is reaching senior citizen status en masse, causing the overall U.S. population to get older each year. According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, the number of people age 65 and older has grown by over a third since 2010. It is[…]
19 Evidence-Based Benefits of Advance Care Planning
Published October 15, 2020
Reading Time: 2 minutes Advance care planning (ACP) is an ongoing conversation that involves shared decision making to clarify and document – through an advance directive – an individual’s wishes, preferences, and goals regarding future medical care. This comprehensive process is critically important to ensuring patients receive the medical care they want in the event they lose the capacity[…]
Understanding Palliative Care and Hospice Care
Published September 9, 2020
Reading Time: 4 minutes Discussing goals of care with patients facing serious illness is essential to ensuring that the care they receive is compassionate and aligns with their goals and wishes. Unfortunately, these conversations don’t happen enough. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that almost 90 percent of U.S. adults felt that talking with their doctors about their preferred[…]
Clinical Social Workers: Champions of Advance Care Planning
Published February 21, 2020
Reading Time: 3 minutes As members of the interdisciplinary healthcare team, clinical social workers help manage the difficult issues that can arise at the end of life. They are experts at supporting patients, families and caregivers as they cope with emotional distress and navigate the healthcare system. They also play a critical role in ensuring patients’ wishes are honored[…]
Year of the Nurse: Recognizing the Critical Role of Nurses in Advance Care Planning
Published January 30, 2020
Reading Time: 3 minutes “The greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.” – Nurse Florence Nightingale Nurses impact patient care and make a difference in people’s lives every single day. As front-line caregivers, nurses advocate for their patients and use evidence-based practices to[…]
Four Simple Strategies for Improving Patient Health Literacy
Published September 30, 2019
Reading Time: 4 minutes The U.S. has a health literacy problem. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly nine out of ten adults lack the necessary skills to manage their health and prevent disease. Low patient health literacy has been linked to higher rates of chronic illnesses and preventable hospitalizations, poor self-care and less frequent[…]
Advance Care Planning Guide Part 2: List of Resources
Published April 16, 2019
Reading Time: 7 minutes As you may (or may not) know, there are many online resources available to assist with advance care planning. We’ve put together a list of several links to advance care planning resources and related topics for health care professionals, as well as for patients and their caregivers. You can access our glossary of terms here. Professional[…]
Advance Care Planning Guide Part 1: Glossary of Terms
Published March 26, 2019
Reading Time: 6 minutes Advance Care Planning (ACP) 101 begins right here with a list of commonly associated advance care planning terms. Stay tuned for Part 2, which will provide a comprehensive list of resources for advance care planning. Advance Care Planning An ongoing communication process that involves clarifying and documenting an individual’s wishes, values, preferences and goals regarding[…]
12 Reasons Why Video Education Tools are a Crucial Element of Shared Decision Making
Published February 28, 2019
Reading Time: 4 minutes Over the last decade, there has been a healthcare revolution. Driven by access to information via the internet and the adoption of digital devices, patients have transformed into consumers of healthcare, demanding more empowerment and autonomy. These changes have created an environment in which shared decision making (SDM) between patients and providers is a basic requirement[…]
The Kaiser Family Foundation Annual Report on Medicare and What it Means for Advance Care Planning
Published August 9, 2018
Reading Time: 3 minutes Driven by the baby boomer generation, there has been a 36% increase in the number of Medicare beneficiaries over the last decade. In 2007, there were 44 million enrolled for Medicare Services; today, there are almost 60 million. This only represents a portion of baby boomers — an estimated 10,000 people turn 65 every day.[…]
How Patient Decision Aids Help Overcome Common Barriers to Shared Decision Making
Published June 18, 2018
Reading Time: 4 minutes Shared decision making (SDM) in healthcare requires active participation by both patients and providers as they share information and jointly make decisions based on the individual needs of patients. This sounds simpler then it often is in practice. It is not uncommon for the adoption of shared decision making in clinical settings to be slow due[…]