I thought I would add cheer to an already enjoyable weekend by reviewing some recent national hospice data. Here are some nuggets: Patients on hospice lived an average of 28 days longer than patients with similar diagnoses who were not on hospice. Hospice service saved an average of $2,309.00 per patient in 2008. The cost savings data…
Category Archives: Hospice Agency Operations
The God in the room
Chaplain service is a key component of hospice care. In fact, medicare requires hospice agencies to offer chaplain assistance for all patients and their families. Bereavement care must extend for a year after the patient dies. Since we at Texas Hospice emphasize spirituality as one of our three pillars (quality and physician-directed care are the other two), we care very much…
A Peripatetic Lesson
I am traveling in Nairobi, Kenya this week. My family and I are partcipating in a mission trip involving children of prisoners. The average age of death in Kenya is 48. As I toured the cityand visited a church, I noticed very few elderly people. I feel it is reasonable to conclude that the Kenyans just don’t live that…
DNR
There are several different kinds of end-of-life documents, but the most basic and easy to understand is the DNR. An appropriately executed DNR can prevent unnecessary and painful procedures from being performed on patients who don’t need them. DNR is an acronym for Do Not Rescusitate, which means, that if a person’s heart stops and they stop breathing, the medical…
A word from Tolkien
As I was reading The Hobbit with my son last night, I came across this passage: “There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.” Our hospice agency, like a child, is growing and developing. It is understanding more of itself. As such,…
Levels of care in hospice
At Texas Hospice, we occasionally have difficulty determining when a patient qualifies for continuous care (24-hour bedside nursing presence). The ONLY factor in making this decision is whether or not the patient’s status meets the medicare written guidelines: · Continuous home care should be provided only during a period of crisis as necessary to maintain the terminally ill individual at…
A unique house call
I had a novel experience two nights ago when I visited one of our hospice patients at his home. He is a delightful elderly man who suffered a stroke 9 months ago. His illness left him bedridden and requiring total care. He lives with his son, who, along with a paid caregiver and hospice service, provides the care that enables him…
Is Image Everything?
I always think of the old Andre’ Agassi Sprite commercial when I hear that loathsome phrase, “Image is Everything.” At Texas Hospice, we invest our resources in providing great care. Everything else that is important should then fall into place. But Texas Hospice is uniquely situated because I, the owner, am a Fort Worth native (almost, I…
Credo
I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been affected by the global financial collapse. A recent article in the journal First Things (www.FirstThings.com) points out how the removal of the five cardinal virtues from our economic system has destroyed the trust between creditor and borrower, and seller and buyer. Although some lawmakers have proposed legislation requiring banks to make loans,…
Does that sound like hospice to you?
How about another example of how our culture loves multi-tasking? Open Access describes providing curative treatment alongside palliative care. An example might be someone receiving the tail end of a chemo regimen while on hospice. The patient benefits from the hospice agency’s pain and nausea control while the chemo reduces the cancer burden a little more. Hospice agencies utilize Open Access…
