Palliative care is patient and family-centered care that optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering. Palliative care throughout the continuum of illness involves addressing physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual needs and to facilitate patient autonomy, access to information and choice. Right now, Medicare beneficiaries are in need, because they cannot access…
A Look Back at 2020 2020 presented a year of challenges, dominated by the COVID-19 Pandemic and with the staunch support of hospice and palliative care advocates, the Hospice Action Network worked tirelessly to ensure that hospices have the resources they need to continue to provide high quality care during this public health emergency. On March 27, 2020, the House passed…
Would you like to strengthen your skills as a hospice and palliative care advocate? Are you interested in building relationships with Members of Congress? Are you passionate about the hospice and palliative care community? Would you like to learn how to influence federal policymakers to pass legislation that could improve the delivery of quality hospice…
Black communities are grieving. They have been hit doubly hard in recent months, first by COVID-19, which takes black lives at two times the rate it kills white people, and then by the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbrey, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. While much of the country is still under stay-at-home orders, and many…
HAN welcomes Lucy Schmitz as the new Advocacy and Grassroots Specialist. A note from Lucy: I am thrilled to join the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and the Hospice Action Network (HAN) as the new Advocacy and Grassroots Specialist. In this role, I look forward to working with care providers, partner organization, and…
For the past several months, the Hospice Action Network (HAN) has been working tirelessly with Congress, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the White House on implementing safeguards and policies that will support hospice providers and the patients and families they serve. The…
What My Hospice means is different to each individual and family. For Elaine, it means giving back to an organization that cared for her mother, who could experience a family wedding thanks to hospice. Story submitted by Faith Hospice in Grand Rapids, Michigan: Elaine has been with us since early 2018, serving in a variety…
What My Hospice means is different to each individual and family we serve. For Volunteer Manager Angel Gregory, it means working with volunteers to create special, one-of-a-kind treasures for bereaved families. Village Hospice began serving a patient on Christmas Eve; he died on Christmas Day, surrounded by a loving family. In February, our Bereavement Counselor,…
What My Hospice means is different to each individual and family. For Kelly, it means expressing love through caregiving and seeing her grandparents through their final journeys. AseraCare Provider Relations Manager and My Hospice Ambassador Kelly Coons writes: One of the questions I often hear as a Provider Relations Manager is, “Why hospice?” I could…
The HAN team is deeply appreciative for all of the hospice and palliative care advocates who took action last week by calling, emailing, and messaging their lawmakers via social media regarding the need for a 1135 waiver for hospice and increased funding and availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the provider community. As of…