Palliative Care

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.  

Critical Success Factors in Care Management for Building a Better Care Model for Seriously Ill Patients Living at…

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.

Throughout the health care community, there is increasing recognition of the significant impact of social determinants of health (SDoH) on individual health and quality of life. COVID-19 has exacerbated social isolation and loneliness, limited food access, and highlighted financial, housing and employment insecurities and transportation issues.

During the webinar, Jasen Gundersen, M.D., MBA, chief medical Officer, CareCentrix, Say Salomon, M.D., National Medical director of Acute and Post-Acute Care, ChenMed, and David J. Sand, M.D., MBA, FACS, chief medical officer, Care N’ Care Insurance Company, Inc. extolled the many benefits of the home-based palliative care (HBPC) solutions provided by Turn-Key Health, a leading home-based palliative care company. Turn-Key Health, a CareCentrix company, serves health plans, hospitals and physicians.

The National Council on Aging (NCOA) has published a blog penned by Terri Maxwell, Ph.D., APRN, chief clinical officer, Turn-Key Health, a CareCentrix Company, discussing the important role of home-based palliative care (HBPC) for supporting seriously ill people at home. With the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affecting the chronically ill and those age 60+, Dr. Maxwell offers guidance on how best to support the seriously ill in their homes during lock-down and beyond.

The pronounced impact of social determinants of health (SDoH) for seriously ill people during the COVID-19 pandemic is generating significant interest and response from payors, providers, and regulators in both private and public sectors. Taking an optimized, process-driven approach for resolving SDoH, Turn-Key Health’s Palliative Illness Management™ (PIM). PIM is an innovative, high-touch, home- based program designed to motivate patients and caregivers to be fully engaged in choosing and implementing a plan of care that optimizes their quality of life and results in treatment decisions in concordance with their goals, preferences and values.

Our Quick Guide to Treating Dyspnea with Opioids provides a concise evidence review of how opioids relieve dyspnea, includes recommendations for starting doses and titration, describes the role of anxiolytics such as lorazepam and answers the question “do opioids hasten death?” (the answer is no).

Expanded MA supplemental benefits are largely tied to CMS’s updated guidance allowing plans to cover anything that has “a reasonable expectation” of improving or maintaining the well-being of beneficiaries with chronic conditions.

When case managers partner with a structured community-based palliative care (CBPC) solution, they gain a set of “eyes and ears” into the homes of members struggling with a serious illness, resulting in better care coordination and better outcomes for members and their families.