Keys to Compassionate Care
When we talk about healthcare, we usually focus on doctors, nurses, agencies — more broadly, on healthcare providers and clinicians. But there’s another group quietly holding up the entire system — caregivers. These are the family members, friends, and neighbors who step in when someone is seriously ill. Whether by choice or by necessity, caregivers act as the...
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to push into new corners of healthcare, offering tools that promise faster, smarter, and sometimes more equitable decisions. An emerging technology gaining attention is the use of AI to estimate a person’s biological age based on facial features. But as with many AI-driven tools in medicine, the excitement that comes with the use of...
When we talk about death in our culture, we often do so quietly, hesitantly, or not at all. But The Last Ecstatic Days, a deeply moving documentary by Ethan Sisser, invites us to do something radically different: to look death in the eye—with clarity, compassion, and even celebration. Ethan was just 36 when he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Instead of...
The Cost of Care: How Senior Living Is Reinventing Itself Under Wage Pressure Rising wages, workforce shortages, and aging demographics are pushing the senior living industry toward a crossroads. Labor costs already make up over 60% of expenses—and state mandates like California’s $25/hr minimum wage for healthcare workers are setting a new baseline. Yet,...
When an employee brings forward a compliance concern, they’re engaging in what the law defines as protected activity. This might involve reporting a potential violation of hospice regulations, concerns about Medicare fraud, or even raising issues about unsafe working conditions. These are rights guaranteed under various laws, like the False Claims Act, OSHA protections,...
Reopening of prior year CAP calculations is always difficult to manage and is one of the dreaded letters that you may receive any year. It's difficult enough to manage CAP during a given CAP year, but you also need to efficiently estimate CAP for patients who move between hospice providers so that you can estimate your risk of CAP overage and associated estimated...
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring alternative therapies for patients in hospice care, and one such option that has gained attention is the use of marijuana. This controversial topic raises important questions about the potential risks and benefits associated with integrating marijuana into end-of-life care. In this blog, we will delve into...
Outside my office door right now, a group is meeting and discussing what they miss about their loved ones. There is a reality that everyone dies and that everyone who has ever loved will grieve. So if that is the inevitable, how is hospice shifting the way we treat the dying days? The mere mention of the word "hospice" can evoke fear and discomfort in many individuals....