Modern Healthcare announces rankings, “Best Places to Work in Healthcare 2026” 
Source, Modern Healthcare, compiled by Hospice and Palliative Care Today; list by Modern Healthcare with additional information compiled by Joy Berger; 9/21/26 
In early June we posted Modern Healthcare’s May announcement of its alphabetical list of “Best Places to Work in Healthcare 2026” honorees. Modern Healthcare revealed the rankings on 9/16/26 at its awards gala in Houston. The ranked-list article is behind a paywall, but each honoree has an individual page that is freely accessible, so every hospice and palliative care organization below links directly to its own ranking. Modern Healthcare scores two separate lists of 75 organizations each — Provider/Insurer and Supplier — so a rank reflects placement within that category, not across all honorees. If we have inadvertently omitted an organization, please email jberger@hospicepalliativecaretoday.com.

• How honorees were chosen ...
• Provider/Insurer category ...
• Supplier category

HPNF awarded Spanish-language access grant 
Hospice & Palliative Nurses Foundation; Press Release; 9/18/26 
The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation (HPNF) has received a $107,000 grant from Elea Institute for a new project titled the Spanish-Language Access to Hospice and Palliative Nursing Certification Initiative. Elea Institute is committed to ensuring all persons have access to high-quality hospice and palliative care and has awarded numerous grants supporting enhanced community access and educational resources. This grant project will address a critical barrier to equitable hospice and palliative care training: language access. Spanish-speaking nursing assistants are an essential part of the healthcare workforce, yet limited access to Spanish-language certification and educational resources creates barriers to professional advancement and equitable care delivery.

Senior health, home health & hospice stocks Q2 teardown: Brookdale (NYSE:BKD) vs the rest 
Fox 46; Press Release; 9/17/26 
Wrapping up Q2 earnings, we look at the numbers and key takeaways for the senior health, home health & hospice stocks, including Brookdale (NYSE:BKD) and its peers. ... The 7 senior health, home health & hospice stocks we track reported a mixed Q2. As a group, revenues missed analysts’ consensus estimates by 0.5%. Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 10.6% since the latest earnings results.

• Brookdale (NYSE:BKD) ...
• Best Q2: BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ:BTSG) ...
• Weakest Q2: AdaptHealth (NASDAQ:AHCO) ...
• Chemed (NYSE:CHE) ...
• The Pennant Group (NASDAQ:PNTG) ...
• Market Update ...

Understanding low hospice utilization among ESRD patients0
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/21/260
Hospice care is underutilized among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, often due to systemic factors. More than 831,000 Americans are living with kidney failure, according to the National Institutes of Health. In 2023 alone, new cases totaled 131,564. Yet, end-stage renal disease patients in 2024 represented 1.3% of Medicare decedents who elected the Medicare Hospice Benefit, the National Alliance for Care at Home reported. This was 24,336 patients.0Concerns over access to dialysis is a major contributor to the low utilization, according to Compassus Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kurt Merkelz.03330The prospect of giving up dialysis deters many ESRD patients from entering hospice. Those that do may come to hospice very late because once they stop dialysis the patient will have approximately one week to live, Merkelz said.

The SSVI: connecting hospice relatedness, spending, and compliance risk | hospice relatedness, part 2 
Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP); by Jennifer Kennedy, EdD, MA, BSN, RN, CHC; 9/18/26 
... Federal rules and CMS guidance make clear that, when a beneficiary elects hospice, the hospice assumes responsibility for related care. Services classified as unrelated should be exceptional and unusual; non-hospice spending should not be routine. (42 CFR §418.24; Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Ch. 9). ...

• Why CMS Created the SSVI and What It Is Designed to Do ...
• Non-Hospice Spending and Relatedness Risk ...
• What is the SSVI? ...
• The SSVI Score ...
• What If My Hospice is an Outlier? ...
• Practical Strategies for Hospice Providers ...

Prior authorization under CMS-0057-F: how payers are rebuilding utilization management for compressed timeline 
The National Law Review, Tampa, FL; Press Release; 9/20/26 
Prior authorization has moved to the center of healthcare payer operations. With the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalizing the Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule (CMS-0057-F), health plans, managed care organizations, and third-party administrators face shorter decision windows and new transparency obligations at the same time review volumes continue to climb. For many organizations, the response has been a careful review of their prior authorization medical review services and the operational systems that support them.

[United Kingdom] Somerset MPs split as Parliament votes down assisted dying bill 
centraljersey.com, United Kingdom; by Josh King; 9/20/26 
The UK House of Commons rejected the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday, September 11, by 286 votes to 270, according to the Somerset County Gazette. The margin was just 16 votes. More than four hours of debate preceded it, over legislation that would have let terminally ill adults in England and Wales seek a medically assisted death. Somerset's own MPs were divided on the question, the Gazette reported, with most backing the bill and one voting firmly against it.

AI can detect cancer years before symptoms appear. Health policy has not caught up
Health Affairs; by Matt Hasan; 9/14/26
Unless health policy evolves alongside the science, the gap between what AI can predict and what health care is prepared to do with that knowledge will keep widening. Consider an artificial intelligence (AI) model developed at the Mayo Clinic that analyzes routine abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans for subtle changes associated with pancreatic cancer before a tumor is visible to a radiologist. In retrospective validation, the model identified 73 percent of cancers a median of about 16 months before diagnosis, with detection possible more than two years earlier in some cases. The technology remains investigational, but it makes the emerging clinical dilemma concrete. If an AI system flags a patient as being at substantially elevated risk when conventional imaging shows no visible tumor, what should the physician do?

IBM study finds 60% of employees worry AI is eroding critical thinking skills 
Complete AI Training; 9/21/26 
A new IBM study finds that 60% of employees worry AI is eroding their skills, with critical thinking cited most often as declining. The research, released September 21, 2026, surveyed 1,500 CHROs and 8,800 employees globally, revealing a gap between the skills HR leaders say AI demands and what workers prioritize. While 71% of CHROs identify the ability to supervise, validate and override AI outputs as the workforce's most essential skill, only 29% of employees rank judgment as important. At the same time, CHROs cite critical thinking (57%) and human judgment (48%) as among the most important workforce capabilities.

Sen. Baldwin demands investigation into veteran care failures at Tomah VA
WXOW-19 ABC, Tomah, WI; by Terry Bell; 9/21/26 
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is calling for an immediate investigation into serious allegations about the failure to care for veterans and unacceptable conditions at the Tomah VA Medical Center. Baldwin is asking Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to conduct a full review of staffing levels, provider coverage, medication delays, hospice care and patient safety at the Tomah VA Hospital. She's also requesting the VA Office of the Inspector General conduct an independent investigation. Baldwin's office heard from several Tomah VA employees who outlined severe lapses in patient care at the hospital. The allegations include inadequate staffing contributing to falls, injuries, food choking incidents and other adverse patient outcomes. [View recent incident:  Former VA nurse charged with intentionally abusing hospice patient]

[China] Chinese woman in her 70s wakes up in coffin before dying for good 2 days later
South China Morning Post; by Zoey Zhang; 9/21/26 
A woman in her 70s in northern China briefly exhibited signs of life after being placed in a coffin, but ultimately died two days later. The woman, from Hebei province, had been suffering from cerebral thrombosis for decades and was also battling cancer, according to reports from mainland sources. After doctors concluded that her cancer was no longer treatable, her family brought her home for end-of-life care. On September 8, relatives found no apparent signs of life and placed her in a refrigerated coffin to preserve her body while awaiting the return of family members from out of town for a final farewell. However, the following evening, her daughter-in-law heard faint “humming” sounds coming from inside the coffin. ...

We are all ignorant. We are just ignorant about different things. ~ Will Rogers