Literature Review

Helping end-of-life patients helps us live fully BBC News, Bristol, England; by Jonathan Holmes, John Darvall, Sarah Turnnidge; 6/18/26"The reminder that we will all die is very difficult, but also really real, and it's the only truth we all have." Those are the words of 44-year-old Hazel Bulger from Bristol, who has spent the past year visiting her elderly neighbor Eric, 86. Living - in his own words - "in the shadow of cancer", recovering from a recent serious accident and managing alone after the death of his wife, Eric was matched with Bulger by St. Peter's Hospice as a "hospice neighbor." The chiropractor and yoga teacher was inspired to volunteer after losing both her parents suddenly in her twenties, said: "I think opening yourself up to end of life can actually allow you to live fully."

When the right end-of-life care is hardest to access MedPageToday's KevinMD.com; by Denise Mohess, MD; 6/17/26 The cost of health care in America is extraordinarily high, too often funding the wrong type of care. As a geriatric medicine and palliative care physician, I sit with patients and families making end-of-life decisions, weighing life-prolonging measures, optimizing quality of life, defining what matters most to them. Recently, a 100-year-old man with severe dementia, limited mobility, hearing impairment, requiring assistance for his daily needs, was admitted to the hospital with worsening weakness. ... At a time when care should have eased suffering, the system instead added to it, as the care that best honored his wishes was the hardest to access.

CMS recalculates MA star ratings payments in wake of Clover lawsuit Becker's Payer Issues; by Elizabeth Casolo; 6/18/26 CMS is “voluntarily recalculating” 2027 Medicare Advantage quality bonus payment ratings, based on 2026 star ratings, following Clover Health’s successful challenge of the agency’s measures. CMS sent a letter informing health plans June 17. In its reevaluation, CMS will only change a rating if a contract receives a higher quality bonus payment rating than before. The agency removed all Part D and some Part C measures in its review: special needs plan care management, health plan complaints, members choosing to leave, timely appeals decisions, appeals decision reviews, and call center availability of foreign language interpreters and teletypewriters.

Beyond the pilot trap: how healthcare can scale AI without losing trust MedCity News; by Prashant Sareen; 6/18/26 The question facing healthcare leaders today is no longer whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be transformative, but whether our organizations can transform quickly enough to harness it at an enterprise scale. The industry has moved past the initial excitement of proof-of-concept (POC) success, only to be confronted by a structural chasm: the Pilot Trap. This is the organizational inertia and technical friction that causes successful AI models, brilliant in isolation, to fail spectacularly in the messy reality of production. Now, with enterprises looking to adopt Agentic AI systems that are capable of autonomous reasoning, planning, and task execution—the pressure, and the risk, has multiplied. 

Executive Personnel Changes - 6/19/26

asdfasdfa

Hospice, ethics & capitalism:  a powerful conversation with  UVA Darden School of Business — part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Lauren Kaufman and Stephen Maiden; 6/17/26 Few topics spark more debate in healthcare than the intersection of compassionate care, ethical responsibility, and financial sustainability. Will mission-driven hospice organizations survive—and thrive—in a healthcare landscape increasingly dominated by for-profit providers? In Part One of this compelling conversation, host Chris Comeaux welcomes Lauren Kaufmann, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and Stephen Maiden, Managing Director of the Darden Case Writing Research Group. Together, they discuss the groundbreaking business case developed around Teleios Collaborative Network and the evolving hospice industry.

Power of rituals and memorialization in the grieving process AfterTalk; by Melissa Calvert; 6/17/26 A ritual is a ceremony of meaning, a continued observance of ceremonies which are repeated routinely are known as rituals. Rituals can either be done in an isolated manner or by gathering lots of people; it varies from person to person. Rituals are held to mark important events in one’s life, for example, birth, wedding, graduation, and death. The main purpose of a ritual is to add meaning to an event to add depth to it, whether secular or spiritual meaning.

Medicare’s Part A Trust Fund is projected to run short in 2033: 6 costs seniors should watch SavingAdvice; by Drew Blankenship; 6/16/26 ... Recent reports project that Medicare’s Part A Trust Fund could start to run short in 2033, meaning it will be unable to cover 100% of its obligations by that time. ... While Medicare isn’t going to disappear, here are six costs seniors should keep a close eye on.

[United Kingdom] One in five children’s hospices cutting staff or services amid funding pressures, study finds CivilSociety; By eyewave; 6/16/26 Almost a fifth of UK children’s hospice charities are cutting services or employing fewer staff as a result of financial pressures, according to research published today. The research, commissioned by national charity Together for Short Lives, found that while most hospices had managed to maintain service levels over the past year, nearly half had used reserves to do so. A third had reduced short breaks or respite care, while a smaller proportion had cut hospice-at-home services and end-of-life care. The findings came against the backdrop of an 18% sector-wide rise in charitable expenditure year on year, and a 21% increase in overall expenditure.

Hospice House obtains judgment and defeats contractor’s claim for additional payment Hospice House Foundation of WNC, Inc., Franklin, NC; by Dan Cropper; 6/4/26 Hospice House Foundation of WNC, Inc. announced that it has obtained a court judgment in the amount of $600,000 arising from the incomplete construction of its planned inpatient hospice facility in Franklin. ... The arbitration resulted in a substantial recovery for Hospice House. In addition to obtaining a $600,000 judgment, Hospice House successfully defeated Western Builders’ counterclaim seeking payment of allegedly unpaid contract funds.

Palliative care: ‘This part of medicine gives me the most meaning’ UCLA Health; by Mary-Rose Abraham; 6/16/26 Second annual summit gathers interdisciplinary team of providers ... UCLA Health’s second annual palliative care summit highlighted the specialty’s role in improving quality of life for patients living with serious illness and their families, supporting healthcare teams and advancing patient-centered care. The summit also addressed the importance of a culture of wellness as a hedge to workplace burnout.