Consumerism Drives High Touch and Tech
The past few years have seen a number of issues and innovations gain prominence in healthcare and the hospice industry.
Individualized, patient-centered care, technological advances and a growing ability on the part of patients to actively compare healthcare providers are three of the key trends that healthcare communicators – especially those who work in the hospice industry – are likely to encounter in the months ahead.
Focus: Understanding the Whole Patient
Beginning January 1, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began paying physicians to engage in advance care planning conversations with their patients to help them understand and make decisions about their end-of-life treatment preferences.
In the first year, approximately 575,000 Medicare recipients took advantage of the new benefit, according to a Kaiser Health News survey – almost twice the number expected. Expect that number to increase in 2018. At the same time, look for an effort to broaden the focus of the conversation.
Dr. Tim Ihrig, Chief Medical Officer for Crossroads & Palliative Care (full disclosure: a SPRYTE client), says such conversations should go beyond discussions about extreme treatment measures and do-not-resuscitate orders. Instead, they should empower patients to consider what is most important to them from physical, medical, emotional and spiritual standpoints and use that as a basis for envisioning how they want to live their final days, weeks, months or years. Helping patients understand how palliative care can enhance the quality of their lives as they reach the final stages should be part of that evolving conversation as well.
Healthcare communicators need to understand the growing importance of patient-centric, value-based care to help educate patients and their own staff about best practices and what to expect.
More Ability to Compare and Contrast
Over the past few years, the CMS has developed a series of websites aimed at providing consumers with information that will enable them to begin the process of comparing healthcare providers in various sectors, including Physician Compare, Hospital Compare, Nursing Home Compare, and Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Compare. The websites offer a way to compare providers within a geographic area (and against national averages) based on specific quality metrics.
In August, 2017, the CMS launched Hospice Compare. The goal was to allow users to sort through hospices based on quality metrics, such as the percentage of patients who were screened for pain, or difficulty breathing, or whether patients' preferences are being met. Almost immediately, however, the site became the focus of complaints that incorrect information was being provided – incorrect addresses, phone numbers and profit statuses were among the problems identified.
CMS administrators say they are working hard to correct the bad information. At the same time, they say additional quality metrics will be added to help users make more informed choices as they compare hospice providers. Look for a more accurate and robust Hospice Compare website to appear – eventually. (No clear timeline has been established.)
In the meantime, healthcare communicators need to be alert to new developments and be ready to provide accurate information about their own organizations on a timely basis.
Technology’s Role Will Continue to Grow
Many people are still surprised when they learn that hospice is not a place, but rather a program designed to help patients with a terminal illness live peacefully and painlessly as they reach the end of life. The growth of telehealth will make the delivery of hospice-related services more accessible and reliable than ever. Nothing, of course, will supplant the value of in-person visits by a nurse or care provider. But the availability of round-the-clock medical monitoring and telecommunications with patients or family members will enable a higher level of quality care for those who are homebound, who lack family support, or who live in very rural or isolated locations.
Other technological advancements in the area of virtual reality are already helping to educate providers, support staff, first responders and family members about what it’s like to experience some of the conditions and challenges faced by patients who are elderly, infirm, or dealing with dementia. In fact, during 2017, two of our healthcare clients – Crossroads Hospice and Holy Redeemer Health System – staged “virtual dementia tours” for the benefit of caregivers and family members. Special programs such as this allow healthcare providers to showcase their special knowledge while providing an important educational public service – always a great opportunity for communicators.
Additional technology-driven developments are underway – programs to better track opioid use and abuse, enhanced data-driven analytics to help providers in the areas of tracking, documentation and reporting, and improved work management systems that enable providers to offer more timely, efficient care to their patients.
No doubt, 2018 will be an exciting time. As always, healthcare communicators will need to be alert and constantly aware of the fast-paced developments taking place in their industry and how they can impact their own organizations.
