Hospices have contended with two agents of industry-wide change at the start of 2021: access to value-based payment models and a global pandemic. As hospices sought ways to balance the human touch with technology, they’ve refocused efforts around advance care planning, a key element of those value-based models. Those services are one more area in [...]
Conversations about one’s fundamental values, hopes for the future, goals for health care in extreme situations, and treatment preferences for various future scenarios are best held at a leisurely pace, not in the midst of a crisis. These wide-ranging discussions may require multiple iterations as people circle around serious yet hypothetical and far-distant prospects. Generally [...]
Caring for critically ill individuals during a medical crisis involves complex decision-making on the part of both healthcare providers and families. Communication strategies aimed at facilitating decision-making for individuals and surrogate decision-makers have shown an improvement in patient and family emotional outcomes. Interventions that target increasing the frequency and quality of communication about future medical care [...]
March 30, 2021 - AUSTIN, TEXAS Iris, Inc., the leader in technology-enabled Advance Care Planning (ACP) services for health plans, provider organizations and their members, announces a partnership with UMPQUA Health Alliance to perform ACP services for their Medicaid and Dual Eligible membership. “Our partnership will empower UMPQUA members to remain in control of [...]
Experts have extolled advance care planning for all adults as a way to make sure their wishes and values would be honored should a medical crisis make it impossible for them to directly communicate their preferences for medical care and treatment. But that recommendation may not be appreciated by those who are young and healthy. [...]
Many patients with serious illness receive unnecessary and unwanted care delivered to them at end of life, one of the largest drivers of waste in our health care system. A possible response to this problem is advance care planning. Advance care planning (ACP) is a process in which a patient reflects upon their goals, values [...]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the list of nineteen (19) Medicare Advantage organizations (MAOs) through 53 Medicare Plan Benefit Packages (PBPs), that will participate in the Hospice Benefit Component of the Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model starting January 1st, 2021. These PBPs will test the Hospice Benefit Component in service [...]
Few things in life are universally beneficial — advance care planning (ACP) is one of them. Whether you are in perfect health or managing a serious illness, making informed, empowered care decisions before a serious health event occurs provides valuable peace of mind and ensures you receive care that truly aligns with your goals. Additionally, [...]
In the face of uncertainty, making informed medical choices in advance can provide much-needed peace of mind. This is especially true when planning for future medical care (such as CPR or intubation), as these important choices can be incredibly challenging to make in the moment of a medical crisis.However, most people today fail to plan [...]
