CCCC In Action
CCCC Annual Conference - Mark Your Calendar!
Make plans to attend CCCC's 3rd Annual Conference, Building a Community of Caring: Working Together to Improve End-of-Life Care, on March 16 in Burbank. Keynote speakers are Joanne Lynn, MD, author of Handbook for Mortals, and David Kessler, a colleague of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and author of Visions, Trips and Crowded Rooms.
Thinking Ahead - For People with Developmental Disabilities
Thinking Ahead workbooks in English will be available once again in December 2010, thanks to a grant from the Special Hope Foundation. Contact CCCC for copies. To find out more about Thinking Ahead, visit the CCCC website for the most current information.
Support CCCC's Work!
For more than a decade, CCCC has brought together people from different backgrounds and disciplines to work to improve end-of-life care in California. To continue our work, we need your financial support. Renew your membership today! Make a donation to help us reach our goals! Send a check to CCCC, 1331 Garden Highway, Suite 100, Sacramento, CA 95814
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Federal Public Policy
Medicare and Voluntary Advance Care Planning CMS announced that effective January 1, 2011, both the first annual wellness visit and subsequent annual wellness visits under Medicare will include voluntary advance care planning. Click here for the entire rule and see pages 766-768 and 1488-1494 for the relevant language.
Rule Change to Improve Nursing Home/Hospice Coordination The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a proposed rule change to improve coordination between hospices and nursing facilities by clarifying each provider's responsibility in caring for nursing home residents. Read and comment on the proposed rule here.
Obama Proclaims November National Hospice Month During National Hospice Month, the nation recognizes the dignity hospice care provides to patients who need it most, and the professionals, volunteers, and family members who bring peace to individuals in their final days.
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State Legislation
No Changes in Law
While the California legislature considered a couple of bills related to the end of life, including one on hospice facilities and one on after-death care, these bills did not make it to the Governor's desk. Top |
Resources
New Organization Focuses on End-of-Life Needs of South Asians
Pallium India-USA has formed a group in the San Francisco Bay Area to address end-of-life issues in the South Asian community. Pallium India-USA is the USA arm of Pallium India, a registered charitable trust in India working to improve access to palliative care. Volunteers are available for presentations. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Atul Gawande Video on Goals of Care
Dr. Gawande, surgeon, author and frequent contributor to the New Yorker Magazine, recently discussed four points for doctors to discuss with terminally-ill patients. Instead of asking patients to make hard decisions, he emphasized the importance of asking questions about their hopes and fears. Watch the video here.
PBS Show to Explore End-of-Life Decisions
In Facing Death, FRONTLINE visits Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York to look at end-of-life decisions in action. Watch candid conversations about when to remove a breathing tube in the ICU; when to continue treatment for patients with aggressive blood cancers; when to perform a surgery; and when to call for hospice. This episode airs on November 23 but can be viewed online now.
New Book Compiles JAMA Series on Palliative Care The JAMA series on palliative care is now available for purchase. Care at the Close of Life: Evidence and Experience offers evidence-based and clinical expert guidance on caring for patients with life-limiting illness, while incorporating the words and perspectives of affected patients, their families, and treating clinicians.
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Clinical
New Trend: Orders for Comfort Feeding The Clinical Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and the New York Times published articles about comfort feeding as an alternative to feeding tubes for dementia patients who have lost the ability to swallow. Not only does comfort feeding provide patients with human interaction and intimate contact, it preserves a patient's dignity. These resources, along with the CCCC Tube Feeding brochure, can help providers discuss this issue with patients and their loved ones.
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Research
Hospice Care Key in Lowering End-of-life Care Costs
End-of-life care expenses continue to climb, according to new research from the United States and Canada published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, but increasing hospice services could be a major factor in improving patient care while lowering costs. Link to the UCLA research here, the Duke research here and the University of Alberta research here.
Racial Impacts on End-of-Life Care
Researchers reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine that African American patients tend to receive life-prolonging measures at the end of life even when they have DNR orders or state a preference for symptom-directed care.
Hospice Length of Service Continues to Decrease
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) reports that 34.4% of patients served by hospices in 2009 died or were discharged in seven days or less. This reflects a very slight decrease from 2008, when 35.4% of patients had a short hospice experience.
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Education
ELNEC Train-the-Trainer
Four courses will be provided simultaneously: ELNEC-Core, Pediatric Palliative Care, Geriatric, and Critical Care.
Sponsors: National ELNEC Project, Palomar Pomerado Health, University of San Diego Date: January 13 -14 Location: San Diego
Visit the ELNEC web site for more information.
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Newsletters are available on the CCCC Website (www.CoalitionCCC.org) in PDF format for anyone who is having trouble reading this email version. |
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