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How does hospice fit into end-of-life counseling discussion?
Haslett: At a recent tea party protest in Amarillo, one performer's song lyrics included a reference to a hot-button issue in the ongoing debate over health care.
(more audio of song about euthanasia)
Haslett: There's been a lot of disinformation and confusion surrounding health care overhaul, including the false claim that government "death panels" will determine whether elderly people receive health care. The part of the House of Representatives bill that sparked that concern involves a provision that would allow Medicaid to reimburse doctors for, quote, advance care planning consultation. News coverage of this provision has often used the phrase end of life counseling. What is end of life counseling? I recently went to Odyssey Healthcare, a hospice provider in Amarillo, to find out. I spoke with a number of professionals, including Social worker Tisha Stamp.
Stamp: I think counseling is a very broad term and you can separate it into the different departments, which is why there are so many professionals in hospice.
Haslett: Hospice offers several different types of counseling. Therapeutic counseling helps the patient and loved ones engage the emotional challenges of an end-of-life situation. Medical professionals counsel patients as to their treatment options. Social service counseling helps patients determine where to find care and how to pay for it. All these options are offered through hospice. In fact, what began as an attempt to clear up misconceptions about end of life counseling soon turned into a discussion of the misconceptions about hospice.
Bailey: Hospice is a scary, scary word. A great deal of education is always needed to overcome the images that that word conjures in our minds. They don't realize that hospice enables you to live life more fully- and often for a longer period of time than you would if you did not receive services.
Haslett: That's bereavement coordinator Janet Bailey. Inpatient Unit Manager Donna Christie agreed.
Christie: There are studies that show and prove that if a patient comes onto hospice services early in their diagnosis, it increases their lifespan. It's proven. And it also increases their quality of life.
Bailey: The quality of life, exponentially.
Christie: Hugely.
Haslett: Hospice is not a place. Inpatient residential services are an option, but just one of many. Hospice is an interdisciplinary weaving together of services for people with a terminal diagnosis.
Christie: It is for somebody who has chosen palliative care- comfort care- over curative care, or there is no longer any curative care available.
Haslett: Meanwhile, back in Congress, the controversial House bill provision would reimburse doctors for informing patients of options like palliative, or comfort care. The professionals from Odyssey Healthcare expressed skepticism and frustration with that proposal- in part because they say that such services are already available. Social worker Tisha Stamp:
Stamp: We do that. So why do we need to start creating programs and paying doctors and having- it's there. Medicare' s there. It's a hundred percent covered by Medicare. And through this whole health care debate, I don't hear the word hospice, I hear about panels and appointing doctors and committees and- here it is, right here. Everything can be taken care of by this group of people in this room. It's already funded through Medicare, it's just not utilized. I mean, do y'all agree with me?
Christie: Absolutely.
Stamp: It's not utilized.
Haslett: A link to the text of the House bill is online, along with this story, at our website, hppr.org. This is Mark Haslett, High Plains Public Radio news.
LINK TO H.R. 3200, Sec. 1233
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3200/text?version=ih&nid=t0:ih:2834 © Copyright 2012, hppr
(2009-11-18)
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AMARILLO, TEXAS
(hppr) -
(audio of song about euthanasia)
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Haslett: At a recent tea party protest in Amarillo, one performer's song lyrics included a reference to a hot-button issue in the ongoing debate over health care.
(more audio of song about euthanasia)
Haslett: There's been a lot of disinformation and confusion surrounding health care overhaul, including the false claim that government "death panels" will determine whether elderly people receive health care. The part of the House of Representatives bill that sparked that concern involves a provision that would allow Medicaid to reimburse doctors for, quote, advance care planning consultation. News coverage of this provision has often used the phrase end of life counseling. What is end of life counseling? I recently went to Odyssey Healthcare, a hospice provider in Amarillo, to find out. I spoke with a number of professionals, including Social worker Tisha Stamp.
Stamp: I think counseling is a very broad term and you can separate it into the different departments, which is why there are so many professionals in hospice.
Haslett: Hospice offers several different types of counseling. Therapeutic counseling helps the patient and loved ones engage the emotional challenges of an end-of-life situation. Medical professionals counsel patients as to their treatment options. Social service counseling helps patients determine where to find care and how to pay for it. All these options are offered through hospice. In fact, what began as an attempt to clear up misconceptions about end of life counseling soon turned into a discussion of the misconceptions about hospice.
Bailey: Hospice is a scary, scary word. A great deal of education is always needed to overcome the images that that word conjures in our minds. They don't realize that hospice enables you to live life more fully- and often for a longer period of time than you would if you did not receive services.
Haslett: That's bereavement coordinator Janet Bailey. Inpatient Unit Manager Donna Christie agreed.
Christie: There are studies that show and prove that if a patient comes onto hospice services early in their diagnosis, it increases their lifespan. It's proven. And it also increases their quality of life.
Bailey: The quality of life, exponentially.
Christie: Hugely.
Haslett: Hospice is not a place. Inpatient residential services are an option, but just one of many. Hospice is an interdisciplinary weaving together of services for people with a terminal diagnosis.
Christie: It is for somebody who has chosen palliative care- comfort care- over curative care, or there is no longer any curative care available.
Haslett: Meanwhile, back in Congress, the controversial House bill provision would reimburse doctors for informing patients of options like palliative, or comfort care. The professionals from Odyssey Healthcare expressed skepticism and frustration with that proposal- in part because they say that such services are already available. Social worker Tisha Stamp:
Stamp: We do that. So why do we need to start creating programs and paying doctors and having- it's there. Medicare' s there. It's a hundred percent covered by Medicare. And through this whole health care debate, I don't hear the word hospice, I hear about panels and appointing doctors and committees and- here it is, right here. Everything can be taken care of by this group of people in this room. It's already funded through Medicare, it's just not utilized. I mean, do y'all agree with me?
Christie: Absolutely.
Stamp: It's not utilized.
Haslett: A link to the text of the House bill is online, along with this story, at our website, hppr.org. This is Mark Haslett, High Plains Public Radio news.
LINK TO H.R. 3200, Sec. 1233
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3200/text?version=ih&nid=t0:ih:2834 © Copyright 2012, hppr
