Little Information Available For Families Making Hospice Decisions For Terminally Ill
Also, Reuters reports on new research regarding long-term care insurance and other themes regarding aging parents' needs and family expectations.
The Washington Post:
Quality Of U.S. Hospices Varies, Patients Left In Dark
More than a million times a year, a terminally ill patient in the United States is enrolled in hospice care. Each time, the family confronts a decision that, while critical, often must be made almost blindly: Which hospice to hire? A boom in the industry allows patients to choose from an array of hospice outfits, some of them excellent. More than a thousand new hospices have opened in the United States in the past decade. But the absence of public information about their quality, a void that is unusual even within the health-care industry, leaves consumers at a loss to distinguish the good from the bad. (Whoriskey and Keating, 10/26)
Reuters:
Autonomy, Cost Are Key In Decisions On Long-term Care Insurance
Family discussions that emphasize older parents’ independence and their desire to avoid being a burden to adult children could stimulate interest in buying long-term care insurance, researchers say. In focus groups with older adults and their middle-aged children, certain themes dominated parents’ decisions about whether or not to purchase coverage for themselves. Tapping into those themes could help families talk about aging parents’ needs and everyone’s expectations, according to the researchers. (Lehman, 10/24)
