L.A. health care fraud takedown results in 15 defendants charged, including six medical professionals, with $2 billion in losses alleged 
United States Attorney's Office | Central District of California; 10/22/26 
The Justice Department today announced charges against 15 defendants, including six medical professionals, for health care fraud schemes that collectively resulted in $2 billion in fraudulent claims to government and private health care programs, including sham substance abuse treatment programs, unnecessary artery treatments, and bogus hospice services. ... 
Hospice Fraud: 

• United States v. Jimenez: Geoffrey Jimenez, 60, of Los Angeles, is charged by complaint with health care fraud for allegedly operating a fraudulent hospice scheme through Transitions Hospice Inc. ...
• United States v. Keech: Dr. Richard Keech, 83, of Torrance, is charged by information in connection with a scheme to defraud Medicare by causing over $10 million in false and fraudulent claims for unnecessary hospice services. ...
• United States v. Raffi: Armani Raffi, 59, of Van Nuys, is charged by information with health care fraud for orchestrating a multi-entity hospice fraud scheme through four interconnected hospice providers – Golden Age Hospice & Palliative Care, St. Mary’s Hospice & Palliative Care, CA Hospice Care, and Miracle Hospice & Palliative Care, all located in Sherman Oaks.

Building trust through transparency: practical steps for home health and hospice providers 
Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc. (ACHC); by Susan Mills; 10/20/26 
Home-based care is one of healthcare’s most personal and trust-dependent environments. ... Today, that trust is being tested. ... Responsible providers cannot control the actions of bad actors. They can, however, help stakeholders clearly understand who they are, how they operate, and the systems they have in place to support quality care.

• Transparency is not a communications exercise ...
• Take practical steps to communicate quality ...
• Transparency must reflect reality ...
• An opportunity for responsible providers to lead ...

Tuscora Stamp Club raises $4,500 for hospice: annual auction sold about 200 lots to support Ohio’s Hospice care for patients and families 
Your Ohio News; 10/22/26 
The Tuscora Stamp Club raised $4,500 for Ohio's Hospice during its annual charity auction at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in New Philadelphia Oct. 20. The event brought together club members, local stamp dealers and collectors to support the organization's mission of providing care and comfort to patients and their families. ... The annual auction reflects the club's continuing partnership with Ohio's Hospice and its commitment to supporting the community through stamp collecting.

Your living will could get you too much care, or too little: the living will doctors misread 
KevinMD.com; podcast by KevinMD; 10/21/26 
When you can’t speak for yourself, a living will is supposed to speak for you. Too often, it doesn’t. Seventy percent of U.S. adults don’t have one, and those who do often keep it in a drawer at home. ...  80 percent of physicians equate the mere presence of an advance directive with a do not resuscitate (DNR) order. Mirarchi calls it the lethal glance, a split-second read by a clinician who has never met the patient. The errors go both ways: resuscitating people who never wanted it and failing to resuscitate people who chose full code. ...

Arkansas man renews his vows to wife as his last wish 
KFSM 19 CBS, Bentonville, AR; by AJ Mendez; 10/22/26 
Bryan and Terri Rose renewed their vows Wednesday, marking the first time a “Wish Upon a Wedding” event took place in Arkansas. Wish Upon a Wedding is a program similar to ‘Make a Wish’ that grants couples where one person has a terminal illness their last wishes. Bryan has Stage 4 colon cancer and was admitted to hospice earlier this week. Even through his terminal illness, he wanted to make sure his promises to Terri were restated.

My dying daughter gasped in pain while medics argued at her bedside 
BBC Scotland News; by Iona Young; 10/22/26 
In the days before her death, six-year-old Flora Gentleman was in pain and visibly distressed. But because she was autistic and non-verbal, she could not tell her parents what was wrong. After four years of living with neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer, Flora had stopped responding to treatment. By December 2024 she was receiving palliative care at Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Children and Young People. Despite being given the highest possible dose of pain relief, her mother, Stephanie Kent, said she could see her daughter "gasping and wincing in pain". According to Stephanie, disagreements between medical teams over how best to manage Flora's symptoms erupted into a heated discussion at her daughter's bedside.

Hospice and end-of-life workers discuss what they’ve learned from their work and patients in their last moments 
The Guardian; by Madelein Aggeler; 10/21/26 
... Courtney first started working with dying patients when she was an oncology nurse. ... After a brief stint working in the ICU, Courtney began working in hospice care full-time. She says her job has reshaped how she approaches her life both personally and professionally. We spoke to her and other hospice and end-of-life workers about what they’ve learned from their work and their patients.

• Have open conversations about death ...
• Death can be beautiful ...
• Don’t wait to check off items on your ‘bucket list’ ...
• Know what you can control ...
• Nurture relationships ...
• Keep things in perspective ...
• Be present ...
• Everyone is someone’s favorite person ...
• A job is just a job ...
• People want to know their life mattered ...

Saugus nurse takes plea agreement in fraud case
The Signal, Santa Clarita Valley; by Perry Smith; 10/21/26
A Saugus woman accused of committing health care fraud in Fresno and Kern counties entered into a federal plea agreement with the Department of Justice, according to federal courthouse records. ... Zayas pleaded guilty to the fifth of six counts she was charged with, aggravated identity theft, and in exchange, the prosecution is dropping the other five charges. The crime carries a mandatory term of two years in prison. ... Zayas is expected to owe $2.5 million in restitution at the time of her sentencing next month ... The deal acknowledges that, as a licensed nurse, Zayas purchased the hospice companies Humane Love in November 2022 and Healing Hands the following April. The companies billed Medicare more than $2.5 million in fees for care, claiming there were more than 120 patients. ...

Elara Caring Board Chair Paul Kusserow: more payers will buy in hospice, home health 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 10/21/26 
The home-based care landscape has changed considerably between Paul Kusserow’s time as chairman and CEO of Amedisys and his return to the field as board chair of Elara Caring. Kusserow led Amedisys from 2014 to August 2025 when the company was acquired by the UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) subsidiary Optum for $3.3 billion. ... Hospice News spoke with Kusserow about his return and how the industry has changed in the intervening years, as well as Elara Caring’s next steps and what hospices need to do to grow in 2026.

Cleveland Clinic grounds tech change in reliability and scalabilit: Sarah Hatchett, senior vice president and CIO at Cleveland Clinic, discusses change management and ongoing digital transformation in healthcare 
HealthTech; by Teta Alim; 10/21/26 
Across industries, generative and agentic artificial intelligence seem to dominate headlines, ... “Healthcare doesn't need more technology for the sake of technology. It's all about scalable, reliable solutions that really improve care and create enterprise value,” Sarah Hatchett, senior vice president and CIO at Cleveland Clinic, tells HealthTech. She talks about how Cleveland Clinic prioritizes reducing friction for patients and clinicians and why stakeholder alignment is key to an IT project’s success.

[Canada] Farmers pause harvest to support hospice 
Strathmore Times, Strathmore AB Canada; by Melissa Crispin-Piche; 10/21/26 
With their own harvests still demanding attention, local farmers set aside time Oct. 16 to help bring hospice care closer to home. The Farming for Hospice kickoff brought volunteers and representatives from John Deere and Nutrien together in support of the Wheatland and Area Hospice Society. For Keith Clayton, the society’s first president and a long-time organizer of the fundraiser, the effort reflects a community willing to work toward a shared goal. “Everybody’s interested in the end result, which is getting a hospice built,” he said. 

It’s October, which means I’ve already planned 47 fall activities and completed exactly zero.