Misinformation, Health Care Reform, and the Media

A Message from J. Donald Schumacher
August 14, 2009

Misinformation, Health Care Reform, and the Media

As many people know, NHPCO has been working actively to clarify misinformation among national and regional media regarding health care reform legislation. An important part of our outreach has been to correctly explain the advance care planning provision and stress the value of this benefit for all Americans.

NHPCO leadership have spoken with reporters and producers with all the major network news outlets, ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN, as well as the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Washington Post, and many others.

Some highlights include NHPCO's Kathy Brandt interview on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" and Jon Keyserling’s interview on CNBC. NHPCO also provided information for the new feature that debuted on ABC Evening News with Charlie Gibson, "Fact Check," where the inaugural issue on this new segment was the misinformation about the advance care planning provision.

It's difficult to hear false and misleading statements in the media but rest assured that we are responding as effectively as possible. NHPCO offers some information that may be helpful. This includes:

• Talking Points on advance care planning and health care reform.
• NHPCO’s press release from August 7.
• NHPCO’s analysis about the advance care planning provision in the House’s bill.

NHPCO’s Caring Connections has some useful information about advance care planning that helps explain what it is, including a new piece that uses metaphor to explain the concepts:

• What is Advance Care Planning
• Healthcare Agents: Choosing One and Being One
• Preparing Your Advance Directives
• NEW - Are You Traveling without a Map? A layperson's guide to advance care planning (PDF)

There have been any number of excellent news reports, articles and op-eds that clarify the misinformation but those are often overshadowed by the conflict. Here are some links of interest that people may be interested in looking over:

• "Honest Talk About the End," Newsweek, by Eleanor Clift, 07/31/09.
• "Elderly Americans should read the health care bill: It won't kill them," Cleveland Plain Dealer, by Connie Schultz, 08/02/09.
• "Getting health care healthy: Accepting death outside the hospital," * Chicago Tribune, by Anne Moore, 08/05/09.
• "Health Care Reform: The Assault on Truth," AARP Bulletin Today, 08/14/09.
• “Here’s the truth, Granny,” Obit Magazine, by Judy Bachrach, 08/11/09.
• "Health Care: Will Section 1233 Hasten Patient Deaths?" American Center for Law & Justice (from Christianity Today), 08/11/09.
• "Three Myths about the Ethics of Health Care Reform," Association of Bioethics Program Directors.
• "Advance-directives section fueling concern and, hospice officials say, misunderstanding," Winston-Salem Journal, 08/13/09.
• “While others rant, hospice keeps helping,” Orlando Sentinel, 08/14/09.
• “Doctors Providing End-Of-Life Counseling See Benefit In Current Controversy,” Kaiser Health News, 08/14/09.


At NHPCO, we will continue to do our best to provide accurate information that we hope will help Americans understand the value of advance care planning.

The importance of patient wishes have always been integral to the hospice philosophy of care and we understand why the provision in the House bill would only serve to benefit Americans. We also understand how complicated and challenging issues surrounding death and dying are for many people. And when faced with what seems like sweeping change in health care reform discussions, it is understandable that many people are passionate—and frightened. Yet, I have faith that in the days ahead, the truth about caring for people at the end of life and the importance of advance care planning will begin to spread where there has been misinformation and false accusation.

To cite our outreach materials, hospice and palliative care are about how you live. Making one’s wishes know is an important part of life’s journey.

I encourage all hospice and palliative care providers to continue with the important work they do to help patients and families and their broad communities. I am proud to be working with such a dedicated community—all those providing hospice and palliative care.

Thank you.

J. Donald Schumacher
President and CEO


For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org

Solutions to Not Only Survive, But Thrive

Leading and Managing in Tough Economic Times is a unique program designed to provide hospice CEOs and other organizational leaders with specific tools and resources to help their programs survive and thrive in the months and years to come.



Date: September 24-25, 2009
Location: Hyatt Regency Denver and Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO


For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org/ctc2009

NHPCO & Alliance to Offer Health Care Reform Phone Forum Next Week

The negotiations, progress and temporary set-backs of health care reform continue, and the hospice community has never had more on the line. Will the BNAF rate cuts be addressed in the bill? Will Congress modernize the Medicare Hospice Benefit and expand access to hospice? Could access be hindered by the health overhaul? Will we suffer more cuts to help pay for reform?

Please join NHPCO President/CEO Donald Schumacher, Vice President of Public Policy Jonathan Keyserling, and members of the Alliance for Care at the End of Life lobbying team on Wednesday, July 29 at 3pm EDT for an update and responses to your questions on the timing, substance and process of what’s to come in health care reform.

Register for the Phone Forum Here

This unprecedented opportunity is being offered at no charge for NHPCO members; however, please be considerate of this generous offer by restricting your registrations to one phone line per hospice program.

Register for the Phone Forum Here

Important Information: Registration closes at noon (EDT) on Monday, July 27. Registrants will receive the call instructions on Tuesday, July 28. CEUs will not be offered for this event. Please send any questions to advocacy@nhpco.org.
We hope you will join this important discussion!

For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org

More Reasons to Attend NHPCO's 10th Clinical Team Conference

The Best Content and the Best Value. Discover why NHPCO's 10th Clinical Team Conference is the best educational value for hospice and palliative care professionals of all disciplines.

The CTC is the only educational event designed to educate the entire interdisciplinary team, offering advanced, intermediate and introductory content for all clinicians.

Plenary Speakers:

• Vyjeyanthi (VJ) Periyakoil, MD
• Frank Ostaseski
• Gary Gardia, MEd, LCSW, CT
• Brad Montgomery, CSP
  Learn more about these exciting plenary speakers.

The CTC is four conferences in one. The conference features the Facility-Based Hospice Forum, Pediatric Intensive and Scientific Symposium running seamlessly within the Clinical Team Conference.

Learn more online today.

New Leadership Program to be Offered at CTC

NHPCO Announces New Professional Development Program for Hospice Leaders to be Part of the 10th Clinical Team Conference

Curriculum will Focus on Leading and Managing in Tough Economic Times

(Alexandria, Va) – With the healthcare reform debate, threats to reimbursement, increased regulatory demands and an economic downturn, hospice leaders are reeling and reaching out for guidance and practical solutions to weather this period of change and transition. In response to the needs of the hospice community, NHPCO has announced a two-day professional development intensive that will be part of its Clinical Team Conference in Denver, CO, September 24-25, 2009.

A survey conducted by NHPCO earlier this year indicates that the recent economic downturn has negatively impacted hospices across the country, with nearly 75 percent of respondents reporting an overall negative financial impact in 2008. A majority of respondents (58.4%) said they experienced a reduction in revenue in 2008. Over three-quarters of respondents (77.9%) said they had implemented reductions in spending in 2008. (Learn more about the findings from NHPCO’s economic impact survey in July’s NewsLine, pg. 6.)

Leading and Managing in Tough Economic Times is a unique program designed to provide hospice CEOs and other organizational leaders with specific tools and resources to help their programs survive and thrive in the months and years to come.

The program's education agenda runs throughout the first two days of the 10th Clinical Team Conference. Attendees of this program may attend all or some of these sessions as well as programs and events offered during the first two days of the CTC (September 24-25), including plenary and concurrent sessions, networking and conference exhibit hall events.

“In years to come if asked how you responded to these financial challenges will
you be able to say you proactively developed and executed a plan?” asked J.
Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of NHPCO. “We’ve created this intensive
specifically to address the needs and concerns we hear from provides in the
field.”

Confirmed Speakers include: Mark Murray, The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care, South Bend, IN; Charlene M. Bunts, WellStar Community Hospice, Austell, GA; Christie Franklin, Bristol Hospice, Salt Lake City; Mary Sheehan, Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter, Glenview, IL; and Greg Wood, Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, Ponca City.

Registration is now open for Leading and Managing in Tough Economic Times. Visit nhpco.org/ctc2009 for more information on this timely program.

Agenda

Thursday, September 24, 2009

• 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM CTC Opening Plenary
• 10:15 AM – 11:45 AM Quick Cuts, Contingency Plans and Long-range Planning: Developing a Road Map for an Uncertain Future – Charlene and Mary
• 11:45 AM – 1:30 PM Complimentary Box Lunch
• Noon – 1:15 PM Discipline-Specific Networking Meetings (NCHPP)
• 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Creating a Culture of Belt-Tightening
• 2:45 PM – 3:45 PM Doing More with Less? Yes, It Can Be Done
• 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM CTC Welcome Reception and Exhibition

Friday, September 25, 2009

• 8:15 AM – 9:30 AM General Plenary II
• 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM Networking Break with Exhibitors
• 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM Utilizing Financial Data to Enhance Patient Care
• 11:45 AM – 1:15 PM Networking Lunch with Exhibitors
• 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM Downsizing with Compassion
• 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM Panel: Been There, Done That and Still Learning as We Go
• 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM General Plenary III

For more information on this program, contact NHPCO member services team at 1-800-646-6460 or visit nhpco.org/ctc2009.

Google Health and Caring Connections

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Caring Connections and Google Health Offer New Way to Access Advance Directives Online

Alexandria, VA – Ensuring that one’s healthcare wishes are known and will be honored in the event of a healthcare crisis is what advance care planning is all about. Today, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Caring Connections, a leading provider of advance care planning information, and Google Health™ have come together to increase the availability and accessibility of advance care planning information and resources online.

Advance directives, also known as living wills and healthcare power of attorney forms, allow an individual to express their wishes if they are in a medical crisis and unable to communicate. These documents provide specific information to healthcare professionals and can help guide family caregivers called upon to make decisions on behalf of someone who is not able to speak for themselves.

“How can medical professionals honor your healthcare wishes and preferences if they don’t know what they are?” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of NHPCO. “Advance directives are useless unless they are available during emergency healthcare situations. Google Health will make these documents accessible online and will eliminate a huge barrier of access during times of need.”

A new feature on Google Health enables users to download a free, state-specific advance directive and store the scanned documents securely online. This will help overcome a common barrier in emergency healthcare situations, where it can be difficult to access a patient’s advance directive.

Google Health is a secure, online Personal Health Record (PHR) that allows consumers to store, organize, and share important healthcare information. Google chose to work with Caring Connections because they are the only provider that offers free, state-specific, online advance directives. In the past three years, Caring Connections has distributed more than 2.5 million advance directive forms. They also provide information to help people understand advance care planning and begin conversations with family and healthcare professionals.

The process to store an advance directive form in Google Health is easy:

1. Go to your Google Health account at google.com/health, or create a new account if you don’t have one already.


2. Download and print the advance directive form for your state at caringinfo.org/googlehealth


3. Complete the form and sign it.


4. Scan the signed document and upload it to your Google Health account.

By taking time to do these simple steps, you are making your healthcare wishes available to those who may need them in a time of crisis. Not only is this an important step to take for your own well-being but it’s a gift for your family members and loved ones who may need to act on your behalf.

-###-

Contact:
Jon Radulovic
NHPCO
Ph: 703-837-3139
jradulovic@nhpco.org
www.caringinfo.org
Caring Connections is a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Learn more at CaringInfo.org.

Visitors to NHF Website find new features

For the first time, visitors to the National Hospice Foundation Web site will find new ways to interact with the philanthropic arm of NHPCO.

Completely redesigned and launched just last week, www.nationalhospicefoundation.org offers these new features, among others:
1. Clear and comprehensive information about what your dollars support
2. A place to “Share Your Story” and read others’ hospice stories
3. Links to NHPCO’s Twitter account and to NHF’s Facebook page
4. An easy-to-use form making monthly giving a snap
5. A wealth of information about ensuring a legacy through planned gifts

Come check it all out! We’d love to hear your feedback – send it directly to Susan Messina, Director of Development Communications, NHF.