Key takeaways from the Fiscal Year 2027 Hospice Final Rule 
Husch Blackwell; podcast and transcript by Bryan K. Nowicki, Andrew Brenton, and Brooke Griffin; 10/27/26 
CMS’s Fiscal Year 2027 final rule includes the introduction of the Service and Spending Variation Index, significant changes to the hospice election statement addendum, and requests for information on community palliative care and medical aid in dying that reveal CMS’s future priorities. In this episode, Bryan Nowicki, Andrew Brenton, and Brooke Griffin walk through what hospices need to know about the final rule.

Community Hospice & Palliative Care highlights the importance of choice during National Hospice and Palliative Care Month 
Jax Chamber, Jacksonville, FL; Press Release; 10/28/26 
November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, and Community Hospice & Palliative Care is encouraging individuals and families across Northeast and North Central Florida to learn more about their care options and make informed decisions when facing serious illness.

Models of palliative care for malignant disease in rural settings: systematic review 
Journal of Pain and SYmptom Management; by Kirsten Arnold, Amy Pascoe, Patrick Steele, Venise Hon, Lisa Mounsey, Natasha Smallwood, Rebecca Disler; 10/28/26 
Background: Access to palliative care for people with advanced cancer in rural settings remains inequitable due to workforce shortages, geographic isolation, and limited formalised care structures. This review synthesised evidence on rural palliative care models for people with malignant disease. 
Method: Systematic review of rural palliative care models for malignant disease published since January 2000; ...

Closing the gap: LGBTQ-inclusive hospice bereavement care 
Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 10/27/26 
Certain communities lack sufficient access to inclusive grief support due to gaps in hospices’ bereavement programs. ... Though many families are ill-equipped to navigate death, the LGBTQ+ community is among the most under-resourced and under-represented in bereavement support, according to Darnell Pierce, director of operations at Chicago-based Inclusive Funeral Care. LLC. ... When it comes to support for LGBTQ+ communities, hospices may be missing the mark, Pierce said. Some bereavement programs are built more for biological versus chosen family members, he said.

CMS COO: hospice, home health moratoria a successful approach 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 10/29/26 
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) temporary moratoria on hospice and home health provider enrollment in Medicare has been working, according to Kimberly Brandt, the agency’s deputy administrator and COO. To date, during the six-month enrollment freeze, CMS has denied 50 hospice and 250 home health applications. Also, CMS has seen “huge drops” in billing, particularly in geographic areas known to be rife with fraud. This includes states like California, Texas, Nevada, Ohio, Georgia and Arizona.

Patients with suboptimal discharges – a follow-up (and rescinding hospice billing)
RACmonitor; by Ronald Hirsch, MD, FACP, ACPA-C, CHCQM, CHRI; 10//28/26 
Let me start with an update on my project to get a way to indicate on a hospital claim that a patient has discharged to a less-than-optimal location. ... [That began] with a push to use the “against medical advice” designation for such patients. But the stigma behind that term led me to adopt the suggestion of Valerie Rinkle, a nationally known revenue integrity expert, who proposed adoption of a condition code instead of using a discharge status code. Last week I once again presented to the National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC), asking for such a code to be established. During that meeting, one of the members came up with an even better idea: establishing two condition codes, one for when the patient chooses a less-than-optimal location, and a different condition code for when the payer refuses to approve the suggested post-acute care.

EverHeart Hospice and LeadingAge Ohio meet with state representative Angie King to discuss House Bill 945 
EverHeart Hospice, Greenville, OH; Press Release; 10/26/26  
EverHeart Hospice’s Senior Leadership Team, along with representatives from LeadingAge Ohio, met with State Representative Angie King to discuss House Bill 945 and its potential impact on hospice care across Ohio. The discussion focused on how House Bill 945 can help establish important safeguards to ensure patients and families have access to clear, reliable information when identifying quality, mission-driven hospice providers. Participants also discussed the importance of regulatory requirements that hold hospice organizations accountable to high standards of care.

BHS partners with local libraries to explore personal choices and palliative care 
iBerkshires.com, Great Barrington, MA; 10/28/26 
Berkshire Health Systems (BHS) will partner with local libraries to launch a community conversation on palliative care, centered on book discussions of Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Written by a practicing surgeon, the bestseller bridges clinical care and lived experience, making it accessible to readers with no medical background, while resonating with the palliative care team leading the conversations. This community-based reading event is being offered as part of BHS's new Palliative Care program, a pilot initiative designed to expand this care across the Berkshires through widespread provider education, community awareness, and clinical expertise.

CMS COO: Moratorium has blocked 250 home health agencies from Medicare enrollment 
Home Health Care News; by Morgan Gonzales; 10/29/26
The moratorium on Medicare home health enrollment has blocked 250 agencies that applied from gaining approval, according to Kim Brandt, the deputy administrator and chief operating officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The moratorium on hospice enrollment, meanwhile, has blocked 50 hospices from enrolling, she added, saying that she was surprised at the proportion of home health versus hospice enrollment attempts. 

Are you an organ donor? Here are some rule changes you may want to know 
WLIS-FM, Public Broadcasting System | National Public Radio, New York, NY; by Rob Stein; 10/28/26 
The U.S. organ transplant system is making a controversial change to a long-standing rule that was designed to protect potential donors. The revision aims to boost donations and reduce errors. But critics worry that the move may endanger patient care. Under the change, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which runs the transplant system, will relax a strict firewall between the doctors and nurses trying to save patients in the hospital and the transplantation team standing by to procure patients’ organs. 

[Australia] Home care fraud, waste and abuse: Australia’s lessons for the U.S. 
FTI Consulting; 10/27/26 
Key Takeaway: Australia’s home care model offers U.S. providers and policymakers a practical lesson: Strengthen payment integrity through accountable providers, coordinated care and transparent billing that helps consumers flag irregularities, while preserving access to essential services. ...

• Important Lessons from Australia ...
• Aspects of the Australian System that Mirror Challenges in the U.S. ...
• A Practical FWA Framework for U.S. Home Care Drawing on Lessons from Australia ...
• Recap and Recommendations ...

There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick‑or‑treater looking for a brightly‑lit front porch. ~ Robert Breault