9/11 Memorial Map: Prepare for next Friday, 9/11's 25th anniversary 
9.11 Legacy Foundation; Editor's Note by Joy Berger; retrieved from the internet 9/1/26 
Explore a growing map of memorials nationwide that honor the lives lost and the heroes who responded to the September 11 attacks. Each marker reflects a community’s dedication to remembrance, resilience, and unity.
Editor's Note: Where were you on the morning of September 11, 2001? What do you remember feeling — and fearing? What changed afterward in your life, your family, your community? 
In hospice and palliative care, we understand grief's long reach — the "normal" losses we companion daily, and the tragic ones that live on in us for a lifetime. Next Friday marks 25 years since that morning. I ask you to help your employees and volunteers honor it meaningfully, even on a standard workday. Consider:

• A brief word from your CEO, a chaplain, or a bereavement counselor 
• Space for a colleague touched directly by 9/11 — or one who served in the military, or whose family member did — to share, if they wish 
• A link, shared ahead of time, to a live-streamed memorial service 
• A simple announcement or text marking a moment of silence

How are you supporting your employees and volunteers who want to remember and honor this marker event? Please send me you story. 

The hospice moratorium: what CMS is really signaling about the future | part one 
Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Dr. Jennifer Kennedy; 9/2/26 
In Part One of this timely conversation, host Chris Comeaux and co-host Cordt Kassner,  sit down with Dr. Jennifer Kennedy, Vice President for Quality, Standards and Compliance at CHAP, to unpack what the CMS hospice moratorium means, why it was implemented, and what hospice leaders should be watching next.  Jennifer explains how escalating concerns around fraud and abuse, rapid market expansion, transactional hospice models, accreditation oversight, and Medicare enrollment have created an unprecedented regulatory environment.  She also shares why she believes the moratorium could be extended as CMS continues strengthening enrollment screening and program-integrity efforts.

Stillwater Hospice brings palliative care to rural populations 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/2/26 
Indiana-based Stillwater Hospice recently completed a rural palliative care pilot that the nonprofit plans to extend into a long-term program. The program’s roots were planted in October 2025. It emerged from a collaboration with Cameron Health, a community hospital in Angola, Indiana. ... Through the program, seriously ill patients who have been recently discharged from Cameron have access to a nurse practitioner for symptom management, patient and family education and goals-of-care conversations. Patients receive a phone call within three days of discharge and a visit within a week, ...

Alzheimer’s blood test gets FDA clearance, but not CMS coverage 
Inside Health Policy, Washington, DC; by Jessica Karins; 9/2/26 
A blood test aiming to help with early identification of Alzheimer’s disease, including in primary care settings, by detecting buildup in the brain of the key Alzheimer’s biomarker amyloid beta plague, has been cleared by FDA, but the test and others in its category are not yet covered by CMS or any Medicare Administrative Contractors, its developer confirmed, with MACs having to make an individual determination for each patient of whether payment for the test is appropriate.

Alliance submits comments in response to CY 2027 Home Health Proposed Rule 
National Alliance for Care at Home, Alexandria, VA; Press Release; 9/1/26 
The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) has submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate and Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies Competitive Bidding Program Updates proposed rule.  The letter notes that the Alliance appreciates that, for the first time since CY 2022, CMS proposes a full annual payment update, does not propose to apply a new permanent adjustment, [and ...] However, the comment also emphasizes that these decisions do not undo the harm already built into the payment rate, nor do they do enough to protect access to care across the country. 

Hospice exclusion correction announced for the long-stay antipsychotic measure 
American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL); by Amy Miller; 9/1/26 
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has identified a subset of hospice residents who should have been excluded from the long-stay (LS) antipsychotic measure for the first quarter of 2026. These residents were inadvertently included because of incomplete hospice data in the CMS Centralized Data Repository. The issue affected approximately 2% of residents included in the measure for the quarter. CMS does not anticipate that it will significantly affect facilities’ overall measure results or quality measure ratings. CMS is updating its calculation to ensure that these residents are appropriately excluded going forward. The correction to first-quarter 2026 data will appear in the October 28, 2026, refresh of Nursing Home Care Compare. 

Mercy Hospice change in operator created conditions that posed ‘immediate jeopardy’ to patient well-being, state regulators say 
The Journal; by Jessie Bowman; 9/1/26 
The ownership transition of Durango’s hospice program created serious problems in patient care and organizational oversight, according to state inspections that found multiple deficiencies and twice determined patients were at immediate risk of serious harm or death. In October 2025, the for-profit arm of the national CommonSpirit Health system – CommonSpirit Health at Home – took over ownership of the Mercy Hospice program. CommonSpirit assured the community the quality of care would not decline as a result of the transition. ... However, in May, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment conducted two concurrent relicensing inspections that found the ownership transition created system-wide deficiencies that led to clinical care practices and poor organizational oversight that put patient health and safety at serious risk. 

Office of the Governor — Gov. Green announces $58 million federal investment to strengthen rural healthcare across Hawaiʻi 
The America Watch - State of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI; by Office of the Governor, Josh Green, MD; 9/1/26 
Governor Josh Green today announced $58 million in federal funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to improve access to healthcare and strengthen services in rural and underserved communities across Hawaiʻi. “As a physician who has practiced in rural communities, I know that distance can determine whether someone receives care in time,” said Governor Green. “This $58 million federal investment will help us train and retain more healthcare professionals, provide new ambulances in every county and modernize emergency communications. ..."

Bloom Healthcare expands Dallas-Fort Worth presence with acquisition of Christian Care House Calls 
Bloom Healthcare; Press Release; 8/31/26 
Bloom Healthcare, a passionate team of medical providers specializing in in-home primary care for seniors with complex health needs, today announced its acquisition of Christian Care House Calls, a Dallas-Fort Worth-based home primary care practice. Effective August 31, Christian Care House Calls will operate under the Bloom Healthcare name, strengthening Bloom's presence in the region and expanding its ability to provide high-quality primary care to patients in their homes and senior living communities.

​Change management: inevitable but tangible 
Forbes; by Tal Frankfurt; 9/2/26 
​I was talking with a higher education client last week about their new CRM implementation. Everything had gone well technically. Data migrated. Dashboards built. Automations live. Then the president asked the team for a spreadsheet with the same data sitting one click away in the new system. ...  I have watched the same pattern play out hundreds of times since, ... The technology is almost always the easy part. There is very little that modern platforms cannot do or be customized to do. The persistent challenge is getting people to change how they work.

[United Kingdom] Majority of nurses have given end-of-life care in corridors 
The Daily Mail; by Shaun Wooller; 9/1/26 
More than half of nurses have treated patients receiving end-of-life care in corridors or other makeshift spaces, a damning report reveals. Terminally ill patients are being condemned to 'undignified' deaths and poor quality care in NHS hospitals due to crippling staff shortages, the health workers warn. Meanwhile, overcrowding means some of the most vulnerable are left languishing on trollies where they must go to the toilet and even die in 'full glare of the public.' Nurses told researchers of widespread problems in care planning ... and in some cases patients being resuscitated against their wishes. The survey of 1,153 UK nurses and healthcare professionals by the charity Marie Curie and nursing website Nursing Standard found 55 per cent had treated patients in corridors or non-clinical areas, such as cupboards and offices.

Trade your expectation for appreciation and the world changes instantly. ~ Tony Robbins