Big Bend Hospice announces grand opening of second Oak Tree Treasures location in Tallahassee 
Big Bend Hospice, Tallahassee, FL; Press Release; 6/29/26 
Big Bend Hospice celebrated the grand opening of its second Oak Tree Treasures resale shop on Friday, June 26, welcoming a crowd of supporters, volunteers, donors and community leaders to mark the milestone. The celebration drew such an enthusiastic response ... Located at 3802 N. Monroe St., the new store expands Oak Tree Treasures’ mission of turning everyday shopping and donations into meaningful support for hospice patients and families across the Big Bend.

New Day CEO Kathy Poland pumps brakes on acquisitions, prioritizes operations 
Home Health Care News; by MK Manoylov; 6/29/26 
With 16 acquisitions since 2020, New Day is shifting focus from aggressive M&A activity toward tighter operational discipline. That’s the strategy of Kathy Poland, who stepped in as interim CEO following the death of New Day’s G. Scott Herman in February. She became permanent CEO on June 18, after serving as the firm’s chief operating officer for over four years. ... Poland spoke with Home Health Care News to discuss her transition into permanent CEO, what difficulties she sees in the forthcoming year, New Day’s growth strategies and what she’s learned as a health care industry veteran for the past 25 years.

Compassus, Providence Execs: greater transparency needed on hospice quality 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 6/29/26 
Greater transparency around hospice quality could help counter eroding trust among the public due to widespread fraud, according to executives from the home health and hospice provider Compassus and the Providence Health System. ... “We’ve got a big narrative about fraud and to use that that should, and probably does, engender fear in the average person who is not working in the industry,” Compassus CEO Mike Asselta told Hospice News. “Can I trust the provider if this industry is fraught with abuse? Am I going to be on the receiving end of that abuse? Just that narrative by itself could have a chilling effect on beneficiaries and families who otherwise need hospice.”

Supporting mental health in end-of-life care – associate professor Sarah Yardley 
ehospice; by Dr. Sarah Yardley; 6/29/26 
[Based on hospice interdisciplinary team observations described earlier in this article] ... I propose several ideas that support relationship centered care:

• Warm handover protocols, enabling trusted community members or chosen family to accompany people across care settings.
• Universal distress screening, normalising conversations about emotional wellbeing.
• Trust building rituals, such as joint check ins or shared reflection sessions.
• Storytelling for change, creating spaces where patients, carers, and staff influence local decision making.
• Peer support roles, drawing on lived experience to strengthen connection and advocacy.
• Workforce exchanges, allowing mental health, palliative care, and social care teams to learn from each other.

Two Ann Arbor nurses who transformed how people die mentored her. Then, she became their caregiver.
MLive.com, Ann Arbor, MI; by Jennifer Eberback; 6/28/26 
For in-home private caregiver Kathy Hopps, caring for two trailblazers who helped revolutionize in-home nursing and hospice care in their final days of life brought her journey full circle. Hopps cared for Ingrid Deininger, who co-founded Individualized Home Nursing Care (IHNC) in Ann Arbor in the early 1980s when hospice and in-home care did not yet have the presence in the U.S. as it does today. ... Now she cares for Lois Jelneck, another IHNC founder who is currently under hospice care at the age of 97.

The impact of educational interventions on nursing students' attitudes towards end-of-life care: a cross-sectional study 
Nursing Open; by Mayra Veronese and Cristiana Rago; 6/28/26 
Aim: To evaluate nursing students' attitudes towards end-of-life care and assess the impact of an elective educational course on shaping these attitudes.
Implications for the Profession: Although nursing students exhibited generally positive attitudes towards end-of-life care, theoretical instruction alone proved insufficient to significantly enhance their preparedness for palliative care practice. These findings have direct implications for nursing education and clinical care quality: integrating comprehensive, experiential palliative care education throughout nursing curricula, ...

Medicare pushes end-of-life discussions in hospitals
AXIOS; by Maya Goldman; 6/29/26
The Trump administration wants to formalize the process for recording whether Medicare patients want to be kept alive if they become incapacitated.
Why it matters: Health providers have been required to ask about living wills and other "advance directives" since the early 1990s. But the questions are often skipped - or become a box-check in the admissions process. Only about a third of U.S. adults have documented their end-of-life care wishes. More consultations could reduce costly life-extending treatments that patients don't really want.
Driving the news: The administration is proposing that hospitals begin reporting adult patients' preferences for end-of-life care in electronic health records starting in 2028.

[United Kingdom] New commentary urges patient-centered AI regulation in healthcare systems 
News Medical Life Sciences; by the Royal Society of Medicine; 6/27/26 
New commentary published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine warns that current risk-based regulatory approaches to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare fall short in protecting patients, potentially leading to over- and undertreatment as well as discrimination against patient groups. The authors found that while AI and machine learning systems can enhance clinical accuracy, concerns remain over their inherent inaccuracy, opacity, and potential for bias which are not adequately addressed by the current regulatory efforts introduced by the European Union's AI Act.

HMN 2026: How AI in nursing raises questions about safety, ethics, and human care 
Health Medicine Network; by University of Pennsylvania, George Demiris et al; 6/26/26 
As artificial intelligence systems spread through hospitals and clinics, a growing debate is emerging over whether the technology will ultimately strengthen nursing care—or gradually replace parts of it. That tension is at the center of a new University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing report, “Artificial Intelligence and Nursing Science: Opportunities, Challenges, Implications, and Guidelines,” published in Nursing Outlook. The paper warns that while AI could reduce paperwork and improve patient monitoring, it also raises concerns about bias, accountability, patient privacy and whether hospitals may view some nursing functions as replaceable.

My parents moved in with us before my dad got sick. It made all the difference when he passed. 
Business Insider; by Justin Murphy; 6/27/26

• In 2023, Justin Murphy's parents moved into his Orlando home with his wife and two children. 
• Living together allowed Murphy and his family to be with his father during his final moments. 
• Murphy still lives with his mom and says living in a multi-generational home made his family closer.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Justin Murphy, 35, the co-owner of real estate brokerage Multi Gen Living Group. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

1977-1987: 250 Years - A History of Care
Hospice & Palliative Care Today; by Joy Berger; for 6/30/26
Read details and explore source links

• From Margins to Movement (1977–1981)
  
  
• The Medicare Hospice Benefit (1982–1984)
  
  
• Building Disciplines and Identities (1976–1986)

Approaches to death and dying reveal much of the attitude of society as a whole to the individuals who compose it. ~ Cicely Saunders