Concerns continue to mount among palliative care providers about their ability to reach grieving families as a third year of the coronavirus pandemic approaches. Many hospices have moved their bereavement care services online to keep a safe distance from growing demand, but long-term plans are difficult to formulate given widespread uncertainty over how the outbreak will play out. .
Hospice providers must offer bereavement counseling for at least 13 months after a patient’s death, according to the requirements of the United States Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Hospices often extend the bereavement care available throughout their community, whether or not the deceased is a patient.
COVID-19 has triggered a growing need for bereavement care, with many hospices looking for ways to meet the needs of the community by applying additional resources and new methods. Just under two years after the initial federal declaration of emergency on March 13, 2020, the deadly virus has killed more than 820,350 nationwide as of December 29, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ) the United States.
“We have had to learn, adapt and adapt with COVID,” Heather Harold, bereavement coordinator for Iowa-based Generations Hospice Care, told Hospice News. “The most important thing is just to continue to reassure our communities that we will protect them and that we will protect ourselves. COVID has really hurt individuals’ support systems because they weren’t getting together with friends or families or had traditional funeral services that would normally be a way to help them through their grief and the grieving process. . It really bothered these families a lot. With the COVID variants and not knowing what the future holds, there is no end in sight. “
The emergence of the delta and omicron variants has been at the heart of the increase in cases and deaths across the country, with many regions experiencing “substantial or high levels of community transmission” in the final weeks of 2021, according to the report. the CDC, which previously reported in August that nearly 99% of deaths in recent months have been among the unvaccinated. Currently, 78% of eligible people nationwide have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to CDC data.
Traditional bereavement services are provided through in-person counseling, family reunions, support groups, bereavement camps and other services that have been disrupted to curb the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has reshaped the way hospices provide bereavement care, with many turning to virtual environments and implementing new technology platforms to continue supporting families.
“We had to do a lot of telehealth [and] we’ve found that some families are quite comfortable with this and don’t want additional people in their homes exposing them, ”said Shannon Hazen, director of professional services at Generations. “I believe this will become something that we will use in the long run.”
Generations Hospice Care, based in Iowa, serves Crawford, Harrison, Monona, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties, many of which are home to rural populations. Virtual telehealth and telephone visits have often been the only continuous, regular and consistent bereavement support system for many families in these communities who suffered losses during the pandemic, according to Harold.
Hospices weigh further long-term telehealth investments in an uncertain regulatory future. CMS has temporarily extended a number of flexibilities for telehealth during the pandemic to reduce the likelihood that patients, families or clinicians can spread the virus. President Trump issued an executive order in 2020 directing the US Department of Health and Human Services to review temporary telehealth flexibilities to determine which ones could be made permanent, but to date the agency has not announced no decision on this.
“We are concerned that over time this is where CMS will not allow [telehealth]”Harold said.” At the moment that’s not a problem, but we don’t know what the future holds. “
Although telehealth systems have been a means of ongoing support, families who have lost loved ones have faced unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness and isolation as the epidemic unfolds. continues.
Earlier in the pandemic, satisfaction with telehealth was high, but this trend may have waned towards the end of 2021. A study by JD Power identified a number of factors that could be to blame. Causes of the decline in satisfaction, including a limited range of services, inconsistent delivery and access, confusing technology, unexpected costs, and a lack of details on health care providers. The study examined telehealth services offered directly to consumers and sponsored by payers across the country.
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