Episode 116: FY22 Final Rule

On the final episode of the NHPCO Podcast, host Elyssa Katz is joined by Tracy Wheeler, Executive Director for End Well, a leading non-profit at the intersection of end-of-life and culture change with a focus on making end of life, part of life. Listeners will learn how the End Well team works to engage the media, and even Hollywood stars, in conversations around death and end of life. Listeners will also learn how to implement some of End Well’s best practices at their own organizations. Help spread the message about what true hospice and end of life care look like and increase access to care for all communities. As the NHPCO Podcast concludes and we shape our future together in the Alliance, we want to hear from you! Share your feedback on the podcast, a miniseries, or an episode with [email protected].

In the second episode of the Communication & Education miniseries, host Elyssa Katz is joined by Marian Grant and Tony Back, two national leaders in the hospice and palliative care community and co-creators of the Serious Illness Messaging Toolkit (seriousillnessmessaging.org). Together they cover community education, a critical topic for care-at-home providers and particularly for hospice and palliative care providers who face additional challenges with common stigmas about the care and services they provide. Listeners will leave with practical, evidence-based principles and accessible resources to assist them in capturing public interest without reinforcing misconceptions.

Welcome to the third and final miniseries in this season of the NHPCO Podcast! Over the course of the last three episodes, we’ll focus on communication and education, starting with Episode 8, National Care at Home Month. Tune in as the Alliance Communications team introduces a month of recognition, celebration, and storytelling created to honor the combined membership of the new Alliance and the patients and families its members serve nationwide. Listeners will also learn about how to participate in National Care at Home Month to uplift their organizations, recognize their peers, and contribute to the national dialogue on care at home. We are stronger together, and we can’t wait to celebrate!

In the third and final episode of the Regulatory & Legislative miniseries, host Elyssa Katz is joined by repeat guests Logan Hoover and Madison Summers to discuss the policy priorities top of mind for the provider community and the Alliance Policy team. Listeners will learn the latest on topics from program integrity to Gerald’s Law and telehealth flexibilities, as well as how they can engage locally and nationally to advance the priorities most important to them. Stay tuned for the third and final miniseries in this season of the NHPCO Podcast kicking off in early October – Communication and Education! Email feedback to [email protected].

Tune in to the second episode in the Regulatory & Legislative miniseries focusing on palliative care! Listeners will hear a brief recap of the palliative care landscape before diving into actionable tips for providers with returning guest Rory Farrand, VP of Palliative and Advanced Care for NHPCO. From operators and clinicians with an existing program to those looking to start a new service line, Farrand covers how to operate effectively in the current environment and how to prepare for what the future may hold. As always, let us know what you think by emailing [email protected].

Dive into the first episode in our next miniseries – Regulation and Legislation – with everyone’s favorite topic: the Hospice Special Focus Program (SFP). In this episode, host Elyssa Katz is joined by Logan Hoover, NHPCO VP of Policy and Government Relations, and Patrick Harrison, NHPCO Senior Director of Regulatory and Compliance to cover background, considerations, and predictions around the SFP’s algorithm and implementation. Leave with a stronger understanding of what lies ahead for the provider community as well as practical takeaways you can use to improve and protect your organization.

The third episode in our Quality miniseries focuses on Datasets. NHPCO is committed to continuous quality improvement; increasingly in our technology forward environment, data collection, access, and analysis play critical roles in ensuring the provision of care that meets or exceeds national standards. Host Elyssa Katz is joined by NHPCO VP of Quality, Aparna Gupta, and NHPCO Quality Data Analyst, Tej Chana, to discuss the role of data and benchmarking, the various datasets available to providers, and how to glean practical information that your organization can apply from these datasets. Have a question you’d like to see answered in a future episode? Reach out to [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

The second episode in our Quality miniseries, Personalized Care for Diverse Populations, focuses on how hospice is uniquely structured to care for not only our most vulnerable population – those facing the end of life – but also to meet the individual needs of diverse populations in ways other parts of the healthcare system cannot. Host Elyssa Katz is joined by two special guests to approach this topic from a variety of perspectives – Torie Ring, NHPCO Veterans Service Specialist, and India Harris-Jones, NHPCO Manager of Health Equity and Diversity. The episode provides practical tips for delivering the best possible care to Veteran and historically marginalized communities, both at the individual staff level and via organizational strategy. Have a question you’d like to see answered in a future episode? Reach out to [email protected].  Thanks for listening!

In the first episode of our Quality miniseries, host Elyssa Katz is joined by NHPCO’s Senior Director of Quality, Sarah Simmons, and Manager of Public Affairs, Madison Summers to cover all things workforce and staffing in the provider community. They uncover and provide legislative and practical resource-based solutions for many of the pressing workforce challenges providers face today – competition for skilled hospice and palliative staff, creative and effective staffing models, keeping up with compensation pressures, and clinicians entering the workforce with little to no hospice and palliative care exposure. Have a question you’d like to see answered in a future episode? Reach out to [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Over the course of 10 episodes, this season will focus on Expanding Access to Equitable, High-Quality Care, approaching the topic through three unique miniseries: Quality, Regulation and Legislation, and Communication and Education. We’ll tap into expertise from NHPCO staff and members of the broader serious-illness care community. On today’s episode, previous and current hosts – Madison Summers, Manager of Public Affairs, and Elyssa Katz, Manager of Marketing and Communications, respectively – sit down to introduce the new season, provide an overview of the three miniseries to come, and offer a sneak preview of some of NHPCO and the Hospice Action Networks’ top legislative focuses this year. Have a question you’d like to see answered in a future episode? Reach out at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!