Hospice Foundation of America E-Newsletter - July 2002
Hospice Foundation of America E-Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 7
July, 2002
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Message from David Abrams, President
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We hope all our readers had a pleasant and safe July 4th holiday. It was gratifying to see CMS Administrator Tom Scully send a very strong clarification on the six-month prognosis for hospice admission to a number of important constituencies (more information can be found below). We thought you'd be interested in some historical information on the six-month limitation.
The Chairman of HFA, Jack D. Gordon, was a state senator from 1972-1992. In 1979 while Chair of the Senate Health and Rehabilitative Services Committee, he was the Senate sponsor of the Florida Hospice Licensure Law. (The House sponsor of the bill was Florida State Representative Carrie Meek, now a U.S. Congresswoman.) The Florida law as passed included a one-year prognosis for hospice eligibility, and to this day Florida law still refers to one year. The Florida law eventually became the model for the Federal legislation which passed in 1983. In Congress, opponents of the legislation complained that one year of hospice care would cost too much, so the period was cut to six months as a compromise. There was no medical input on the legislative decision back then, and two decades later there is still very little medical reason for a six-month prognosis of death for hospice eligibility. [Note: Mr. Gordon served as Chairman and CEO of HFA until his death in 2005.]
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Focus on: Six-Month Prognosis for Hospice Admission
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HFA applauds Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Tom Scully for the attention he has brought recently to this issue. In an article Scully wrote for doctors, home health care agencies, and nursing homes, he explains how the Medicare Hospice Benefit works, the wealth of services it provides for patients, and why it is important for physicians to refer terminally ill patients to hospice care. The article clarifies many misconceptions about the Hospice Benefit: "There is no reason for a physician to be concerned about certifying an individual for hospice care who he or she believes is terminally ill; recognizing that prognoses can be uncertain and may change, Medicare's benefit is not limited in terms of time. " In a letter to national medical organizations, Scully seeks assistance in engaging "the physician community, as well as other health care professionals, [to] think more about hospice as they care for terminally ill patients." Read Mr. Scully's letter and article. (This link is no longer available.)
HFA's recently completed Hospice Medicaid Education Project, conducted for the Florida Department of Health, surveyed selected physicians about the most common barriers to referring patients to hospice programs. The six-month prognosis ranked second, just after 'lack of experience in working with hospice programs.' HFA's findings reinforced the work of other researchers and underscores the remarks of Tom Scully.
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What's New@HFA
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Hospice Foundation of America is the recipient of an appropriation from the Florida Legislature to conduct a one-year clergy education program in end-of life-care. The appropriation was based upon findings from the study completed by Florida's Panel for the Study of End-of-Life Care, and from the findings of HFA's Hospice Medicaid Education Project, which found that in times of medical crisis significant numbers of families relied on the advice of their local clergy.
However clergy is typically not trained to counsel families when terminal illness is involved. The clergy education program intends to address that need by developing curriculum and resources which will empower clergy and congregants to minister to the bereaved.
HFA is pleased to be an outreach partner for the upcoming PBS documentary, "And Thou Shalt Honor. . .", which will be broadcast on Wednesday, October 9th on PBS television stations across the country. Hosted by Joe Mantegna, "And Thou Shalt Honor. . ." is about the many challenges of caring for aging parents, spouses and friends. An extensive nationwide community outreach campaign is being developed around this program. Those concerned with caregiving in their community can find out more about this broadcast and what's happening in their area by visiting http://www.pbs.org/thoushalthonor/
HFA has enhanced its Website by offering subject-specific resource lists developed in conjunction with past National Bereavement Teleconferences. These comprehensive resource lists:
include articles, brochures, FAQs, and links to other helpful sources of information.
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Hospice in the News
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Writer Tia O'Brien published an article entitled, "Hospice meets every need -- once you've decided to die" in The Mercury News. The article details her own family's experience with hospice, and does an excellent job explaining the hospice philosophy of care.
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FYI
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The Rosalyn Carter Institute for Human Development is working to define the components of a quality caregiving community. Using input provided by family caregivers, professionals and caregiving experts, the RCI will develop a Community Caregiving Capacity Index, a measurement instrument that communities can use to assess their ability to respond to caregivers' needs. Please submit your input by August 1st. (SURVEY PERIOD HAS ENDED.)
The National Health Council and the National Quality Caregiving Coalition of the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Human Development recently hosted the 2nd Development Conference on Family Caregiving. (This link is no longer available.) The Conference provided a wealth of information about new legislation, important advocacy efforts, and new studies on caregiving issues.
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This newsletter is sent to more than 7,000 subscribers on the 2nd Wednesday of every month to keep you
informed of what is happening in the fields of hospice, grief and bereavement, and
caregiving, as well as what's new at HFA. We encourage you to forward this e-newsletter to an interested colleague or
friend.
Privacy Statement: In no case will we share e-mail addresses. Read the full text of HFA's Privacy Policy.
This newsletter is published by Hospice Foundation of America
Jack D. Gordon, Chairman
David Abrams, President http://www.hospicefoundation.org
© Hospice Foundation of America 2002
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