Dying Without a Safety Net
America funds the crisis. It’s time to fund the care that prevents it.
America funds the crisis. It’s time to fund the care that prevents it.
Houston Methodist Coordinate Care is reducing costs through a partnership with Koda Health, a digital platform that guides patients through their end-of-life choices. Preliminary findings show the technology resulted in a 19% reduction in the total cost of care for patients at the end of their life, which equals nearly $9,000 in savings per patient.
Each of us gets one life, and every life contains its own death. Engage with that fuller picture, wield hope carefully, and then, from everything this hospice doctor has seen, you will be OK, made whole by the time death rolls around, rather than pulled apart by it.
Tech-enabled hospice provider Guaranteed recently closed a $6.5 million seed round, bringing its total funding to $9.25 million. Jessica McGlory founded the startup a year ago so that patients and their families can have more dignified and holistic end-of-life care experiences than what she and her father went through.
I always say that I have the best job: I get to talk to smart people doing really interesting work. I have met dozens of entrepreneurs this year. There is amazing work going on around the country with payment reform, price transparency, nanorobots, incredibly early detection of cancer and sensors that can measure any biometric […]
You know the story on US healthcare and the elderly: Our current default is an American tragedy. It’s devoid of truth and candor; it’s inhumane and it’s wasteful. Recent gains in longevity have come by extending the period of disability right before death. Aggressive care treatment is often hoisted onto the frail because caregivers lack […]
Medical errors are part of medical practice. No matter how hard the healthcare system tries, no treatment will be free of risk. We need to accept that and start making better decisions.
“You only live once” — “YOLO” for short — leaves most people thinking about how to spend our time living. What about the other end, though? For 2014, Britain’s fifth annual Dying Matters Awareness Week is following the motto, “You only die once,” or “YODO” for short. The “Before I Die Festival” in Yorkshire is featuring […]
Eight years ago, Dianne Timmering had no budget for her new department of spirituality at Signature HealthCARE. She now runs the largest for-profit department of spirituality in the country with a $4 million budget and full-time chaplains at all 87 facilities in Signature’s network. “We built it on an ROI model,” she said. “It is […]
The end of life isn’t a topic people generally like talking about, but according to Jeff Zucker, it’s a topic better discussed at the kitchen table than on the operating table. Zucker is CEO of a company that’s trying to empower consumers to make sure they get what they want, and deserve, in their end-of-life […]
We are taking a look at how health insurers are using AI, defining success, and managing cybersecurity risks. Give us your opinions by completing our brief, anonymous survey.
There are just a few key reasons why Medicare has become inordinately expensive. There is no end in sight for cost escalation. But there are some obvious solutions and they all begin with chronic illnesses. Chronic illness – diabetes, heart failure, cancer, chronic lung disease, etc. – are increasing at exponential rates; are caused largely […]
We invited 50 AARP members from the Philadelphia chapter to CONVERGE. They talked with the entrepreneurs in the Pfizer Startup Showcase. These consumers were our reality check on innovation. A few of the members shared their thoughts on which company resonated with them and their own health concerns. The members also joined a town hall […]
Elderly people and veterans are among the chronically neglected when it comes to American medicine. We know who these people are, so why do they still die alone in their homes? Why do at-risk former warfighters go without potentially lifesaving mental healthcare? Why did an 87-year-old lady suffer a heart attack at a nursing home […]