International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care

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Earlier Access to Hospice for Non-Cancer Patients
and Families is Critical

"February 17, 2004 (Alexandria, Va) Earlier access to hospice care for people living with both cancer and non-cancerous diagnoses will bring superior end-of-life care to patients and their families and will improve cost effectiveness of hospice care, reports the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). Earlier access improves cost effectiveness by reducing hospitalizations and expensive curative therapies that may offer little or no benefit to the patient.

Hospice research published in today's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine indicates savings of 7 to 17 percent among patients with aggressive forms of cancer. NHPCO data also reveals that length of service among cancer patients tends to be consistently higher than with other conditions, therefore improving cost effectiveness.
"Hospice has always looked at each patient and family as a unique case requiring an individualized care plan. Different illnesses require different services and associated costs will vary, of course." remarked J. Donald Schumacher, PsyD, NHPCO president and CEO. "NHPCO's research has shown that for a great many patients hospice not only saves the health care system money but can also drastically reduce the financial impact for families while bringing them the care they want."

Recent research shows that quality of care provided by hospice is superior. This January, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (01/07/04) found that hospice care provides significantly higher levels of satisfaction, results in fewer unmet patient and family caregiver needs, and fewer concerns with care. Seventy percent of family members of patients who received hospice care at home rated care as "excellent."

"It's an ethical issue--Are we willing to spend money to provide this specialized care at the end of life understanding that, overall, the government won't spend more, but also knowing that care for some groups of patients might be more costly?" commented Susan Miller, Assistant Professor of Community Health, Brown University School of Medicine, and a researcher who focusing on studying end-of-life care in nursing homes.

Counseling and bereavement services play a critical role not reflected in Medicare costs. Supportive counseling during the illness and bereavement care for one year following the death of the patient are services that that set hospice apart. Studies have shown that spouses who have experienced a death under hospice care tend to live longer than those who have experienced a death without hospice services.
Delivering the highest quality of care to dying patients and support to their families is a priority among the nation's 3,200 hospice care providers.

National Hospice Foundation research reports that almost 80 percent of Americans would prefer to die in their homes, free of pain, surrounded by family and loved ones. Only 10 percent of all patients who died under hospice care in 2001 died in a hospital.
Hospice is a philosophy of care that utilizes an interdisciplinary team of medical professionals and trained volunteers to provide pain-management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to the dying and their families. Medicare, Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs, and other managed care organizations cover the costs of hospice care.

To find a hospice provider in the U.S. or for more information on hospice care, please contact the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization at www.hospiceinfo.org or call 1-800-658-8898.

For more information, contact:
Jon Radulovic
Vice President, Communications
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
1700 Diagonal Road, Suite 625
Alexandria, VA 22314
Ph: 703/837-3139
Fax: 703/837-1233"

Copied from an e-mail transmission received from the NHPCO.

The NHPCO Website is:
www.nhpco.org

The International Observatory on End of Life Care

Swaziland - The Observatory's first country report from Africa
 
We are pleased to announce that our first country report from Africa has been posted on the web site of the International Observatory on End of life Care. Swaziland is a small country in Southern Africa with a population of around 1 million people. The first hospice service - Swaziland Hospice at Home - was founded in 1990 and today, a total of six services are provided by four organisations. To view the report, click on the address below:

 http://www.eolc-observatory.net/global_analysis/swaziland.htm


From Mary Callaway, Associate Director - Palliative Care Initiative (New York, USA) Project on Death in America

On February 2-3, 2004 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
under the auspices of the Middle East Cancer Consortium sponsored a
workshop on "Palliative Care in the Middle East".    Representatives
from ministries of health, directors of medical and nursing education
and training programs, patient advocacy organizations practicing health
care professionals and palliative care experts from Cyprus, Egypt,
Israel, Jordan, The Palestinian Authority and Turkey participated in the
two-day workshop along with an international faculty from Canada,
Ireland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, United States, and United
Kingdom.   The faculty introduced palliative care as a public health
issue for the Middle East with increasing numbers of cancer patients and
an aging population.  Faculty members stressed the importance of
education and training in palliative care for all levels of health care
professionals, discussed the need for changes in current national health
care legislation governing the site of delivery of palliative care, and
the critical importance of making opioid analgesics accessible and
affordable for all patients suffering with life limiting illness. During
the closing session, participants and faculty discussed the need for all
the governments in the region to establish committees within their
Ministry of Health to address the integration of palliative care into
their national health care systems.


Meetings
1st International Conference
The Society for Integrative Oncology

Dear Colleagues,
 
We are pleased to announce the 1st International Conference for oncology professionals presenting scientific data on complementary therapies and botanicals. The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) 1st International Conference is offered in collaboration with:
 
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Dana Farber Cancer Institute; The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; American Cancer Society; International Union against Cancer (UICC); American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO); American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO); Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO); National Institute for Cancer Research, Genoa, Italy; European School of Oncology (ESO), Genoa; American-Italian Cancer Foundation; National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM); National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).
 
Our Keynote Speaker is Dr. von Eschenbach (Director of National Cancer Institute, Bethesda Maryland, our Faculty consists of international experts in oncology. Please see our website (below) for details.
 
On behalf of SIO officers, who also developed this conference:   
David Rosenthal, M.D., Dana Farber Cancer Institute, SIO Vice President
Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, SIO Secretary
Brian C. Decker, BCDecker, Inc., SIO Treasurer

Barrie R. Cassileth, Ph.D., SIO President and Conference Chair
Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine
Chief, Integrative Medicine Service
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
1275 York Avenue, H13
New York, NY  10021   USA
Phone:  (212) 639-8629
Fax:    (212) 794-5851
Email:  [email protected]

SIO Website: Program, conference topics and details for electronic submission of abstracts.
Note abstract submissions are being accepted between March 1 and June 1, 2004.

http://www.integrativeonc.com/



International Workshop on 'Community Participation
in Palliative Care'
November 26 - 28 / 2004
Manjeri, Kerala, India

Sponsored by the Neighbourhood Network in Palliative Care (NNPC) groups in Kerala in association with Institute of Palliative Medicine, Kozghikode & Department of Community Medicine, Medical College, Calicut, India
For details and registration, please contact
International Workshop on Community Participation in Palliative Care
Institute of Palliative Medicine
Medical College, Calicut
Kerala 673008
India
Fax: 0091 495 2354897
Email: [email protected]

Advances in Supportive and Palliative Care:
2nd Annual Palliative Care Conference
End of Life Nursing Education Consortium Pre Conference
May 12-15, 2004

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