Homefront Insights

Virtual visits enhance the provision of palliative care by rapidly connecting patients & caregivers to the support they need. Learn how telehealth is helping hospice and palliative care providers, patients & caregivers.

In 2017, AARP reported that about 41 million U.S. family caregivers perform roughly $470 billion worth of unpaid labor a year. Since then, the number of caregivers has increased to 53 million, meaning that more than one out of five Americans are caregivers. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant shift in care from assisted living facilities and nursing homes to home settings.

Patients managing complex health situations face new challenges during crises. Discover how Angela, a nurse with Envoy Hospice and nurse manager for the Turn-Key Health palliative care program, went above and beyond to deliver whole-person care to the most vulnerable during the Texas power outage.

Turn-Key Health, a CareCentrix company, has reimagined the home as a destination of care for seriously ill patients. In our latest white paper, “Building a Better Model for Care at Home,” we demonstrate how home-based palliative care (HBPC) for individuals with a serious or advanced illness successfully aligns treatment decisions with personal goals, preferences and values; enables payors to reduce emergency department visits, hospitalizations and 30-day readmissions; addresses clinical and non-clinical issues, such as social determinants of health (SDoH); and provides an opportunity to enhance member and caregiver engagement and care coordination.  

Family caregivers for seriously ill patients play an important role in society. Not only do they provide emotional and physical support for their loved one, but they also assume the responsibilities of preparing meals, providing transportation, maintaining the home, managing medications and coordinating doctor’s appointments. This critical role is often essential for keeping the individual safe and well cared for at home and preventing avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalization.

The role of caregiver is often vital in families to ensure the health and well-being of those they love. During the recent COVID pandemic, the lines between providing family caregiving locally or remotely have blurred. Each caregiver has his or her own story.

The FDA approval of COVID-19 vaccines is welcomed and offers home-based palliative care clinicians much-needed hope during a challenging time. These hard-working professionals have dealt with limited in-home visits for seriously ill patients while working to prevent hospitalizations, support advance care planning, provide relief to caregivers and ensure that patients have food, medications and social contact — while keeping themselves and their own families safe.