Reconnecting at the end: The healing power of nature in hospice and palliative care
Dr. Owen Wiseman blog; by Owen Wiseman; 8/18/26 [Originally published by Dr. Wiseman through the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association on 1/5/26]
A caregiver gently holds the hand of an older adult resting in a hospital bed, conveying compassion, comfort, and human connection during serious illness or end-of-life care. When I think about comfort at the end of life, I picture difficult moments buffered by a sense of softness. Small moments that remind us that we’re part of something bigger. One of the most profound sources of comfort is nature. The feeling of sunlight warming our skin, the sound of birds outside a window, or that first breath of fresh air. In hospice and palliative care, every moment is important, and these connections to the world around us offer something no medicine or machine can. Why nature matters...

A new question for health system C-suites
Becker's Hospital Review; by Laura Dyrda; 9/30/26
For years, hospitals across the country aimed to be the one-stop shop for all healthcare needs. They owned every part of the care journey, including hospitals, physician practices, imaging centers and labs. The instinct was to build or acquire capabilities internally, on the assumption that ownership was the only reliable path to quality and control. But C-suites are now focused on a different question. Executives across system types have stopped asking “can we build this?” and instead posing the question: “who is the best in the world at this, and how do we build a deep relationship with them?”
Publisher's note: How might this same question apply to hospice leaders?

Woman in hospice gets final wish to experience the ‘horsey smell’ one more time when horses visit her bedside
People; by Rachel Raposas, Toria Sheffield; 10/4/26
A hospice patient saw her final wish fulfilled when two horses walked up to her bedside. Denise Lee, a 79-year-old grandmother of four, always loved horses... But when she received a terminal cancer diagnosis three years ago, Lee’s condition separated her from the animals she loved most. In August, she told her daughter, Joanne Mullarkey, and her hospice staff at St. Barnabas House in Worthing, England, that she hoped to experience the “horsey smell” and touch a horse again once more. Joanne put out a call to the public for assistance on Facebook, and within hours, local horse owner Kerry Saunders offered to bring two ponies to St. Barnabas House for a visit.

You matter, too: The hidden weight of caregiving
Ashland Source [OH]; by Alyse Schroeder; 10/7/26
If you are caring for an aging parent, a spouse with a serious illness or a loved one who needs more help than they once did, you already know that caregiving is one of the most loving things a person can do. You may also know — quietly, and maybe without saying it out loud — that it can be one of the most exhausting things a person can do. Caregiver burnout is real...

Physician burnout is down. Here’s what’s working—and what isn’t
AMA; by Jennifer Lubell; 9/29/26
Effective health systems don’t just stop at measurement. They are using data to choose focused interventions—and they are honest about where the work still falls short. Leaders from Northwell Health, Ochsner Health and Sutter Health discussed successes and areas for improvement during a session on physician wellbeing at the Becker's Annual Meeting hosted by the AMA. [Recommendations include:]

• Invest in leadership
• Use AI to ease the work
• Study the gaps honestly
• Do not let AI become the whole story
• Help doctors adapt to AI
• Be “relentless” in balancing demands and resources

Addus HomeCare agrees to acquire personal care division of AccentCare for $275 million
Open Minds Market Watch; 10/2/26
Addus HomeCare Corporation, which provides home care services, announced a definitive agreement to acquire the personal care division of AccentCare for $275.0 million. The transaction pertains only to AccentCare’s personal care operations outside of New York and does not relate to its hospice and home health operations.

OpenAI said it solved 300+ complicated math problems, mathematicians are livid
Morning Brew; by Matty Merritt; 10/7/26
All this complicated math and no one was left sobbing at the kitchen table. This week, OpenAI dumped solutions to 372 of the world’s previously unsolved problems across number theory, algebraic geometry, topology, and other fields most of us have no business trying to understand. The release has mathematicians spiraling as AI models power through problems some have spent their lives working on.
Publisher's note: While not hospice specific, this article demonstrates how quickly AI is changing the mathematical field (and many others).

Research: Sleep deprivation is a leadership problem
Harvard Business Review; by Els van der Helm; 10/6/26
Sleep deprivation remains widespread among leaders, and many leaders underestimate how much fatigue affects their performance. A new survey of 1,009 U.S. managers and executives suggests that the problem is less about individual sleep habits than about workplace culture: what leaders allow and what they praise can either protect sleep or encourage people to hide their tiredness. Research from the U.S. Army and a Fortune 500 company shows how changing leadership expectations and working conditions can improve employees’ sleep without focusing on sleep itself. A “recovery check” helps leaders examine their own habits, recognize signs of fatigue in their teams, and assess whether their organization supports or undermines sleep.

[South Africa] Children are dying in pain because our palliative care is so poor
News24; by Sean Christie; 10/6/26
South Africa is failing to provide adequate palliative care, with children the most neglected population. Morphine is often out of stock, and doctors and nurses are terrified of administering it to children. Poverty and limited access to rural health services leave families with few palliative care options.

Executive Personnel Changes - 10/9/26

• National Alliance for Care at Home welcomes Jennifer Stewart as Vice President of Strategic Engagement and Experience.
• VNA in Santa Barbara announces Sena Woodall has been appointed as its new COO, following the retirement of her predecessor and mentor Jo Ann Mack.
• HopeHealth [MA & RI] names Helena Moronta Director of Community Engagement.

Social Media Watch 10/9/26

• Sheila Clark, President and CEO @ California Hospice and Palliative Care Association (CHAPCA), applauds Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for seeking perspectives from across the hospice community: hospice administrators and associations, the professionals who provide direct care, and the beneficiaries, loved ones, and caregivers who experience that care firsthand. She mentions Hospice News' article CMS to update hospice CoPs.
• Ernesto Lopez, CEO @ 1520ai, recently had the opportunity to spend time with Professor Suraj Srinivasan at Harvard Business School. His perspective on emerging AI use cases, and on the companies converting AI capabilities into meaningful innovation, was particularly insightful...

There are two kinds of people in this world. Avoid both of them. ~Arthur Schopenhauer, German philospher 1788-1860