01.05.2016
Clinical Alerts
12.08.2015
Cost Containment Strategies: Generic Medications
The Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians just published a free online article that is a must read for hospice organizations interested...
11.11.2015
New Tool Offers Cost Guidance on Cancer Treatment
In order to prescribe the most effective cancer therapy, doctors use formal guidelines to assist in decision-making. However, these guidelines usually do not consider cost...
10.20.2015
Antimicrobials at End of Life
A recent article published in JAMA states that nearly 90% of patients with advanced cancer are prescribed an antimicrobial within the last week of life...
10.05.2015
Effect of Dextromethorphan-Quinidine on Agitation in Patients With Alzheimer’s Dementia
Patients with Alzheimer’s disease frequently experience agitation and other behavioral problems. With heightened awareness on the harms and lack of benefit of prescribing antipsychotics in...
10.05.2015
FDA Safety Warning: Medications Stored in Becton-Dickinson (BD) Syringes
Recently, BD Medical announced to their customers that their oral plastic syringes are not FDA-cleared for storage of compounded pharmaceuticals or for the purpose of...
09.24.2015
Injectable Morphine Drug Shortage
Manufacturers of injectable morphine alerted the industry on September 18th of a shortage of select strengths of morphine injectable including the 10mg/mL strength, commonly used...
09.16.2015
Availability of Heart Failure Medications in Hospice Care
Symptom management for patients with end-stage heart failure (HF) is demanding. Additionally, the medications most effective for palliation are cardiac-specific (i.e., intravenous furosemide and inotropes)...
09.01.2015
Palliative Care for the Seriously Ill
“Palliative care” is a term often identified as synonymous with “hospice”. Although hospice programs provide the vast majority of this type of care, palliative care...