Literature Review

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. ~ Anaïs Nin

Cancer Foundation awards $65,000 to two Santa Barbara organizations supporting cancer patients Noozhawk, Santa Barbara, CA; by Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara; 11/3/26 This year, the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara (CFSB) awarded $65,000 in grants to two organizations in Santa Barbara County that provide free or discounted healthcare and support services to local cancer patients: Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics and Hospice of Santa Barbara. ... For the second year in a row, the Cancer Foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to Hospice of Santa Barbara to support their Patient Care Services (PCS) program, which offers comprehensive, free-of-charge support services to those with life-threatening illnesses, including 181 cancer patients during the first six months of 2026.

Delegate Tom Hutchinson receives Making a Difference Award The Star, Annapolis, MD; 10/31/26 Maryland State Delegate Tom Hutchinson has received the 2026 Making A Difference Award from the Hospice & Palliative Care Network of Maryland in recognition of his advocacy for hospice and palliative care and his commitment to improving access to quality healthcare across the Eastern Shore. The award was presented at the Network’s annual conference in Linthicum, Maryland on October 1.

Alzheimer's and hospice awareness month Central Oregon Daily News; by staff; 11/4/26 November is Alzheimer's and Hospice Awareness Month. Simeon Rose and Macy McGregor with Bristol Hospice in Bend remind us that Alzheimer's is not the same thing as dementia. Dementia is an umbrella term that covers several types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. While memory loss is a common symptom of Alzheimer's disease, it's not the only symptom; it may also affect things like cognition, movement, language, and vision.

Home transfusions feasible for hospice patients with blood cancer: first-of-its-kind research could help inform efforts to reimburse hospice agencies for providing blood and platelet transfusions The University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK; by April Wilkerson; 11/3/26 ... [For patients with blood cancers who are no longer pursuing aggressive treatment:] The approach allowed patients to receive transfusions for symptom relief without repeated trips to a hospital or clinic, giving them more opportunity to spend time with loved ones. ... The study was a collaboration with Our Blood Institute, based in Oklahoma City, which provided the blood, lab testing and nursing staff to perform transfusions, as well as two local hospices, Integris Hospice and Apex Home Health and Hospice, which oversaw care and collected data.

Founder reflects on creation of Blue Ridge Hospice The Northern Virginia Daily, Winchester, VA; by Brian Brehm; 11/4/26 Everything has to start somewhere and, in the case of Winchester-based Blue Ridge Care, that somewhere was England. In the 1970s, a nurse from South Dakota named Helen Zebarth accompanied her husband, Roger, when the U.S. Army stationed him in Germany. While there, she visited England and had the opportunity to tour St. Christopher's Hospice in London, which was established in 1967 as the world's first modern hospice facility. When the Zebarths moved to Winchester in 1978, Helen Zebarth saw first-hand how Winchester Memorial Hospital at 333 W. Cork St. kept its end-of-life patients heavily medicated so they could sleep until slipping away. She much preferred St. Christopher's approach of keeping patients as comfortable, active and alert as possible in their final days.

How health systems are building the data foundation for agentic AI HealthTech | Artificial Intelligence; by Brian T. Hororwitz; 11/2/26 Healthcare organizations are finding plenty of use cases for agentic artificial intelligence, from increasing staff productivity to reducing data fragmentation. To fulfill their aspirations through agentic AI, providers need a reliable data foundation that comes with strong governance. “AI can definitely increase efficiencies, but the key is getting it to increase productivity for the organization,” says Christian Lindmark, vice president and CTO at Stanford Health Care and the Stanford University School of Medicine. “That's where governance really comes into play.”

AI project RELEVIUM aims to transform pancreatic cancer palliative care TakeToNews; by David Miller; 11/3/26Artificial intelligence is stepping into one of the most challenging frontiers of modern oncology. A groundbreaking new medical initiative, designated as Project RELEVIUM, has been launched with the primary objective of transforming and significantly enhancing the palliative care landscape for patients suffering from pancreatic cancer—one of the most aggressive and debilitating forms of the disease.

Ills of Medi­care Advant­age plans are becom­ing clearer and clearer PressReader | The Boston Globe; by Renee McInnes; 11/3/26 As a pro­vider of home care and hos­pice care, we identify with the struggles of Sarah Iselin, chief exec­ut­ive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mas­sachu­setts (“Blue Cross elim­in­ates sev­eral Medi­care Advant­age plans, affect­ing 20,000 seni­ors”). Health care lead­ers in every sec­tor are cop­ing with the chal­lenges of our failed sys­tem. But it must be made expli­cit that Medi­care Advant­age is a ter­rible product for patients — as it is now, appar­ently, for the bot­tom line of the state’s largest insurer. A total of $275 mil­lion in losses with these plans in 2024 and 2025 is a remark­able num­ber for Blue Cross to report. However, I would remind the health care com­munity that the home care and hos­pice space is being gut­ted, and the ulti­mate loser in this equa­tion is our patients.

Can AI patients make better human communicators? Dartmouth grants put it to the test Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine; by Susan Green; 11/2/26 Working toward a shared vision of diverse and innovative learning opportunities, the Geisel Academy of Educators & Scholars has collaborated with the Center for Learning & Professional Development at Dartmouth Health to create a grant program facilitating innovations in AI simulations using the AI Patient Actor platform created at Dartmouth. The grants support educators interested in turning innovative ideas into educational programs while advancing scholarship and research. ... Academy co-directors Max Vergo, a palliative care physician at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), and Thomas Thesen, a professor of medical education and director of the medical school’s digital health and AI curriculum, are guiding the project teams use of the AI Patient Actor.

Lewy Body dementia treatment and management: practical care strategies Greater Good; 11/3/26 ... Behavioral and mood changes can be among the most stressful aspects of Lewy body dementia care. These changes may stem from hallucinations or delusions, but also from pain, infections, other illnesses, stress, or difficulty communicating frustration and fear. As a result, the person might resist care or lash out verbally or physically. Caregivers can work with doctors to rule out physical causes, review medications, look for environmental triggers, and only then consider medications for behavior if needed. ... Hallucinations, delusions, and other psychiatric symptoms add another layer of complexity. The person may not recognize that hallucinations are not real and can become frightened or agitated. Caregivers are encouraged to respond to the underlying emotion instead of arguing about facts.

Build, buy, or partner: choosing the right path to strategic growth Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); by Gloria Brooks; 11/2/26 For much of hospice's history, leaders benefited from a reimbursement environment that afforded both time and financial flexibility.  As a result, when organizations identified a need, the default response was often to build it themselves.  Whether launching palliative care programs, expanding community bereavement services, creating pediatric hospice offerings, or developing other mission-driven initiatives, organizations often had the resources necessary to design, staff, and sustain these programs internally. Today's reality is different.  Margin pressure, workforce challenges, increasing regulatory complexity, and evolving community needs require a greater level of strategic discipline than ever before.  

Health Care Investors Conference: 2026 recap JD Supra; by Meredith Edwards Collins, Delaney Durst, Ali Gallagher, Kate Hardey, Angela Humphreys, Zoebedeh Malakpa, Tatjana Paterno, Mariah R. Rhodes, Danielle Sloane, Andrew H. Weikert; 10/30/26 Bass, Berry & Sims hosted the 16th annual Health Care Investors Conference (HCIC) on October 20 in Nashville. ... Each year, HCIC brings together leading healthcare industry executives and investors from across the country to gain insights from leading private equity (PE) sponsors, operators, insurance professionals and regulatory experts. This year’s conference highlights included a cautiously optimistic outlook, technology enablement (particularly artificial intelligence (AI), and an evolving regulatory environment.