HopeHealth announces retirement of President & CEO Diana Franchitto 
MassNonprofitNews; 11/5/26 
HopeHealth has announced that Diana Franchitto will retire as president and CEO on May 30, 2027, concluding a transformative two-decade tenure during which she became a nationally recognized healthcare leader in hospice and palliative care and a passionate advocate for people living with serious illness. Founded 50 years ago, HopeHealth is the second-oldest hospice organization in the country. Under Franchitto’s leadership, it has grown to become the region’s largest nonprofit provider of hospice and palliative care and a national leader in serious illness care. Today, HopeHealth cares for more than 1,500 hospice and palliative care patients each day and provides grief support to more than 4,000 individuals in the community every year.

'Another whole day together': Blue Ridge Care celebrates 45 years 
The Winchester Star; by Brian Brehm; 11/8/26 
Blue Ridge Care celebrated its 45th anniversary on Friday with a special luncheon at the Millwood Station Banquet Hall near Winchester. ... "Here we are today, 45 years later, continuing and expanding on the work they started and carried to more people in more ways than ever before," Lynne Sayles, chairwoman of Blue Ridge Care's board of directors, told luncheon attendees that included several people who were with the nonprofit on or shortly after the time it accepted its first hospice patient on Valentine's Day in 1981. [Originally Blue Ridge Hospice] "So today is an opportunity for us to pause and reflect on how far we've come, and to express our deepest appreciation to many hands, hearts, and minds."

How running helped one woman turn grief into purpose 
envision | Greater Fond du Lac; by Tammy Thornton; 11/5/26 
For many runners, crossing the finish line is an exhilarating personal accomplishment. For Julia Stoffel [a palliative care nurse practitioner with ThedaCare Cancer Care], it means much more. Stoffel’s path to running, paved with unimaginable tragedy, would eventually become a source of healing and purpose. ... Around that same time, Stoffel began working with her first hospice patient since returning from her leave. The man, in his 40s, had glioblastoma and often wore Boston Marathon shirts from races he had completed. [This young hospice patient encouraged her to run.] More than a decade after losing family members during an act of violence, Stoffel runs in honor of her loved ones, patients and many others whose lives have helped shape her own.

Hospice antibiotic use linked to higher mortality risk 
TakeToNews; by David Miller; 11/5/26 
A comprehensive new retrospective analysis published in the esteemed medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases has shed light on a controversial and widespread practice in end-of-life care: the administration of antibiotics in hospice environments. Conducted by researchers examining patient trajectories at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the study suggests that routine antibiotic usage among terminally ill hospice residents may frequently cause more harm than good, correlating directly with an elevated risk of mortality for the vast majority of patients.

High Point 98-year-old twin Army veterans reunite after years apart 
hoodline, Greater Greensboro, Greensboro, NC; by Chloe Delfino; 11/7/26
Jack and Jesse Kennedy, 98-year-old twin brothers and Army veterans, reunited Monday at Pennybyrn Nursing Homes in High Point, North Carolina, after years apart. Their family had hoped the brothers could see each other again. According to WBAL News Radio, Bayada Hospice, based in High Point, facilitated the reunion by physically bringing Jack to Pennybyrn Nursing Homes so he could see Jesse. Bobby Ashley, who is affiliated with Bayada Hospice, said watching the two brothers together was deeply moving. Jack's son, Craig Kennedy, described walking into the room and seeing both of them holding each other's hand.

Hospice SSVI explained: what your score isn’t telling you | part two 
Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Lindsay Doak; 11/6/26 
Your hospice’s Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI) score can flag a concern—but it can’t explain the care behind the numbers. In Part Two of Hospice SSVI Explained: What Your Score Isn’t Telling You, host Chris Comeaux continues his conversation with Lindsay Doak about what hospice leaders need to understand beyond their scores.  They explore how fraud enforcement could shift comparison benchmarks, why non-hospice spending deserves closer attention, and how staffing shortages can affect the measures used to evaluate care.

Medicare can recover payments back to the day noncompliance began under Final CMS Home Health Rule 
Medical Daily; by Joseph James; 11/6/26
Medicare enrollment revocation retroactive to the date a provider's noncompliance began, giving the agency a way to recover payments made before a revocation notice ever went out. The changes sit inside the calendar year 2027 home health final rule issued Nov. 4, but most of them reach far beyond home health and apply to Medicare providers and suppliers of every type. CMS estimates the enrollment changes will save taxpayers about $82 million a year, according to its MLN Connects provider newsletter. Under the old rules, only some revocation grounds were retroactive. Most revocations took effect 30 days after a notice was mailed, leaving a window in which a noncompliant provider could keep billing.

New CMS rule ties Medicare billing privileges to owners’ misconduct 
Rev Cycle Managment | TechTarget; by Jacqueline LaPointe; 11/6/26 
Dive Brief: 

• The CMS has widened its ability to revoke Medicare billing privileges from providers including when their parent companies violate rules of other federal health programs or get into legal hot water, according to a final rule released Wednesday.
• Regulators said the changes, which were included in the 2027 Home Health Prospective Payment System final rule, would hold bad providers accountable and save taxpayers $82 million annually. 
• Also in the final rule, home health agencies will receive $415 million more next year, a 2.4% pay bump.

URI College of Nursing to establish interdisciplinary palliative care program to train students, healthcare professionals 
The University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI; by Patrick Luce; 11/5/26
... University of Rhode Island College of Nursing Associate Professor Sean Reed, who joined the university in fall 2026 as the college’s Weyker Chair for Palliative and End-of-life Care, ... is creating an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor within the college, as well as graduate-level certificates and continuing education courses to prepare current healthcare professionals for palliative and hospice care. Reed is developing the courses for URI Faculty Senate approval, with the hope of beginning classes in summer or fall 2027.

How to compare post-acute software before you buy 
Yonkers Times, Yonkers, NY; 11/6/26 
You have roughly 90 days to make a decision that will follow your facility for the next decade. That is the reality of the post-acute software market, one where the average contract runs five years and the switching costs, in staff retraining alone, can wipe out a year’s operational savings. ...

• Why the Comparison Starts With Payer Rules, Not Feature Lists ...
• Match the Software to Your Care Settings, Not Your Neighbor’s ...
• Check the Interoperability Story Without Getting Lost in the Jargon ...
• Review the Security Posture Before You Sign Anything ...
• Build Your Own Scoring Matrix for the Final Round ...
• Choose the Vendor That Understands Your Marathon ...

Lincoln hospice patient fulfills lifelong dream with her own art show 
hoodline, Lincoln, NE; by Priya Farrell; 11/7/26 
Shelly Barrett spent her life making art, but she never imagined she would get to host a show of her own until last Friday, when her work finally went up on the walls of 48 Gallery in Lincoln. Barrett, a hospice patient, said the moment had been a lifelong wish come true,  ... Her artwork, she said, reflects every part of her life, built from a creative practice she has carried since she was young. ... For Barrett, the best part of opening night wasn't just getting her work on the wall. She said seeing friends, family and co-workers come through the gallery was the most exciting part of the whole experience, and that she enjoyed simply being able to share her art with people in person.

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? ~ Henry David Thoreau