Cleveland, OH—Pets provide comfort during all stages of life, though for many hospice patients, that comfort is accompanied by concerns about routine pet care and the future of a favorite furry friend. Hospice of the Western Reserve’s new Pet Peace of Mind program aims to alleviate such concerns, while also ensuring that pets and their owners remain together. The program is currently being implemented in Medina and will be available throughout the 10 counties Hospice of the Western Reserve serves within the next few months...

Most nursing home residents are open to a deprescribing plan, particularly if it is proposed by their physician, say pharmacist-researchers.

In a study of 300 geriatric inpatients, outpatients and nursing home residents (162), they found that 33% of participants would like to try stopping one of their medications on their own, but a greater number — 87% — said they would be willing if their physician advised them to do so...

A powerful public television documentary will examine the process of dying from the perspective of patients. Titled Death Is But a Dream, the one-hour program features the work of Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo chief executive officer Dr. Christopher Kerr, MD, PhD and his research team, who have spent nearly a decade applying a scientific approach to better understand the dying experience which includes non-physical, inner processes such as end of life dreams and visions...

Nurses come to work to care, help and heal. But there has been so little care, help and healing for them during the pandemic. News reports have documented unsafe levels of nurse staffing, a continuing lack of personal protective equipment and an overwhelming number of patient deaths. Some nurses quit their jobs because they felt that hospital administrators did not care whether they lived or died...

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) congratulates Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on her nomination as the next Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Liz Fowler on her appointment as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Director...

Several states passed recent laws that would require commercial insurance plans to cover more telehealth services on a permanent basis. More states now require health plans to pay the same amount for telehealth as in-person visits...

Christopher Kerr, M.D., CEO and chief medical officer of Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo, has been spearheading research that examines the death experience from the perspective of the patient. The research has uncovered previously unrecognized aspects of the dying process, including vivid dreams that feature the patient’s deceased loved ones. A body of work is growing around this research, including Kerr’s book “Death is But a Dream,” a TEDxBuffalo talk with more than 3.2 million YouTube views, an appearance in the Netflix documentary series “Surviving Death,” and a forthcoming public television documentary. The new documentary is also titled “Death is but a Dream.” ...

Construction has begun on Hospice of the Western Reserve’s Care Solutions Center -- a cutting-edge, $3.25 million facility that will open in early 2022 -- thanks to grants from several Greater Cleveland foundations...

The number of Medicare Advantage health plans that are offering palliative care as a supplemental benefit more than doubled between 2020 and 2021. This represents a larger trend of plans offering an increasing number primarily health-related supplemental benefits...