Washington Co. Hospice leader to chair state group

Hospice of Washington County Executive Director Katrina Altenhofen is now the chair of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Iowa’s board of directors, an advocacy group representing that sector of the health care industry.

“I have been serving on the board of directors now for the last three years, and was approached last summer before the fall meetings and asked and asked if I would consider accepting a nomination to be the chair,” Altenhofen said. “There’s several things I would like to see us continue to pursue as a state hospice association and even on a national stage looking at some of the national issues.”

While Altenhofen has a history on the policymaking side of health care, that experience is mostly focused on EMS.

“I kind of had an insight of how to move things along through a state process,” she said. “Although I may not be a real seasoned individual in the world and realm of hospice, I felt that having navigated some of the issues for EMS … that this would be a nice thing and a great challenge to do.”

Altenhofen said the industry badly needed reforms.

“We can make a big impact and we need to see some changes,” she said. “Our rules regulations for hospice are very old and archaic, and I think there’s room for some improvement and some updating to reflect our current practices in the arena.”

Specifically, Altenhofen said she planned to highlight education on how the system works.

“Folks don’t really have a clear understanding … as to what hospice is, what hospice isn’t, and more importantly, where palliative care fits into that,” she said.

Another point of contention is the hospice Medicare benefit, which requires hospice care for the last six months of life to gain Medicare benefits.

“Nobody has a crystal ball that can say, ‘Oh, guess what Katrina, you’ve got a ticket here and it’s going to be punched in six months,’” she said. “It really limits the availability of services … palliative care, however, (is) still end-of-life comfort care but does allow the patient to do some curative treatments.”

Third, Altenhofen said policymakers needed to focus on the worker shortage.

“We can utilize a licensed practical nurse or LPN, but unfortunately, her or his full scope of practice, we can’t take full advantage of because of rules and regulations that bind us,” said Altenhofen, a licensed ambulance paramedic herself. “My scope of practice would allow me to … work in an ER, and ambulance, in a cardiac lab, but I’m not recognized as a health care professional in the world and realm of hospice.”

While the issues left to tackle are numerous, Altenhofen said she looked forward to and was honored by the nomination.

“It was very very humbling and a great honor because, like I said, I haven’t really been in the arena of this for a number of years,” she said. “To have even been considered, it’s nice and a great honor.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com