FBI Public Service Announcement: Emerging hospice fraud targeting Medicare recipients 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Public Service Announcement, Alert Number I-060326-PSA; 6/3/26 
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is issuing this Public Service Announcement to warn the public of an emerging hospice fraud scheme that targets vulnerable Medicare recipients who are not in need of hospice services. Scammers are enrolling Medicare patients in hospice care for services they do not need or for services that are not provided. ...
Tips to Protect Yourself:

• Never give out Medicare or other insurance information to anyone who is not your doctor.
• Never accept incentives like gift cards or money in return for hospice services and be wary of too good to be true offers.
• Use Medicare's Hospice Compare site to look up provider ratings; avoid providers with low star ratings.
• Always review your explanation of benefits statements and Medicare Summary Notices for unknown providers and services

Report It: Ifyou believe you have been a victim of a similar fraudulent activity, please file a report with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. Be sure to include as much information as possible, such as identifying information about the company or health care provider including name, phone number, address, email address, and website.

Hospice Regulatory Alert June 3, 2026 - Hospice PEPPER Report released 
LundPerson & Associates Hospice Consulting; by Judi Lund Person; 6/3/26 
What is PEPPER? The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) is a Microsoft Excel file summarizing provider-specific Medicare data statistics for target areas often associated with Medicare improper payments due to billing, DRG coding, and/or admission necessity issues. ... 
Three years of data: PEPPER can be used to review three years of data statistics for each of the CMS target areas, comparing performance to that of other hospices in the nation, specific Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) jurisdiction and state. ...

Key Resources: 

• PEPPER Home Page ...
• Hospice PEPPER Guide ...
• Hospice PEPPER Demo Excel spreadsheet ...

How to Download Your PEPPER: Staff End User (SEU) Access: Click here for step-by-step instructions
Editor's Note: We thank Guest Editor Judi Lund Person for her expertise. Click here for her detailed, step-by-step Hospice PEPPER information.

NPHI submits comments on FY 2027 Hospice Proposed Rule, urges CMS to strengthen transparency, support access, and advance meaningful reform  
National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation, Washington, DC; Press Release; 6/2/26
The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), the national voice for nonprofit hospice and advanced illness care, has submitted formal comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update, Hospice Conditions of Participation Updates, and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements proposed rule. In the letter, NPHI welcomed CMS’s continued engagement with hospice stakeholders and offered detailed recommendations designed to strengthen patient access, improve transparency, reduce unnecessary administrative burden, and support high-quality, community-based hospice and palliative care. 

Welcome to the 2026 GHPCO Quality Awards Program 
Georgia Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (GHPCO); Call for Nominations; retrieved 6/2/26
As regulators and providers work to address fraud, waste, and abuse in hospice care, the Georgia Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (GHPCO) is highlighting organizations and individuals who demonstrate excellence, integrity, and quality care. GHPCO has announced its 2026–2027 Quality Awards Program, with nominations opening July 1, 2026, and award recipients to be recognized in February 2027. Categories include organizational and individual awards that celebrate leadership, clinical excellence, workforce development, community impact, and specialized care.
Editor's Note: Recognition shapes culture. Review how your organization celebrates excellence. Use this model to strengthen quality, accountability, and care.

Golfing for a cause: Tournament raises more than $190,000 for hospice 
Herald-Advocate, Laurinburg, SC; by Lauren Monica; 6/2/26 
Hospice of Scotland County raised more than $190,000 during its 40th annual golf tournament May 5-6 at Scotch Meadows Country Club, continuing a longtime fundraiser that supports hospice care for patients regardless of their ability to pay. ... The tournament, which serves communities in Scotland and Marlboro counties, has raised more than $5 million over four decades. Organizers said the 2025 total exceeded last year’s by $14,842. The tournament drew 250 golfers and featured about 300 auction items ...

‘Life-changing’: Florida’s first pediatric hospice and palliative care center to open in Jacksonville 
News4JAX, Jacksonville, FL; by Tiffany Salameh; 6/2/26 
A new center opening in Jacksonville aims to provide children with serious illnesses and their families something many say is hard to find: a place designed specifically for them. The Dorion Family Pediatric Center, set to officially open June 11 inside the Earl B. Hadlow Center for Caring on Sunbeam Road, is being described as Florida’s first dedicated pediatric hospice and palliative care center and one of only a few such facilities in the nation. The center will become the new home of Community PēdsCare, a program that currently serves more than 300 children across Northeast Florida living with serious and complex medical conditions.

We couldn't afford to pay for my mom's dementia assisted living anymore. She moved into a tiny house next door to me. 
Business Insider; as told to Noah Sheidlower; 5/31/26 
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lori Bufka, 64, who is caring for her mother with dementia in Arizona. Assisted living became too expensive for her mother, so Bufka moved her into a trailer next to their home, where her mother would have enough space and safety. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 
Editor's Note: From this essay, "She went into hospice care, and we hired someone to come for a few hours a week. It was supposed to be $37 for two hours, but when I got the bill, they tacked on mileage, so it became $92. We figured it wasn't worth it, so now hospice volunteers visit every now and then, and hospice covers medically necessary appointments. ..."

Dr. Joan Teno exposes the hidden problems with hospice ratings and quality scores | part one 
Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Dr. Joan Teno; 6/3/26 
What if the hospice ratings patients and families rely on don’t tell the full story?   In Part One of this thought-provoking conversation, renowned hospice researcher and policy expert Dr. Joan Teno joins Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner to unpack the hidden flaws within today’s hospice quality measurement systems. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience shaping hospice and palliative care policy, Dr. Teno explains why many publicly reported quality measures may fail to capture the true experiences of patients and families.  She discusses the challenges of transparency, the unintended consequences of current reporting systems, concerns about fraud and oversight, and how artificial intelligence could help transform the future of hospice quality measurement. 

CMS crackdown upends hospice dealmaking 
Holland & Knight; by Law360; 6/2/26 
Healthcare attorney Michelle Huntsman was quoted in a Law360 article examining how the federal government's moratorium on new Medicare enrollments in the home health and hospice care industry will affect dealmaking and private equity strategy. ... Ms. Huntsman cautioned to anticipate more detailed legal reviews from transactional attorneys and tougher enforcement from regulators. These steps will increase the timeline for deal flow, she added, but activity will not cease altogether.

Symptom-monitoring app helps patients with advanced cancer maintain quality of life 
The ASCO Post; by The ASCO Post Staff; 6/2/26 
Use of a mobile app for proactive symptom monitoring helped patients with advanced cancer who were no longer receiving active anticancer treatment maintain their quality of life and reduced hospital utilization, according to findings from a randomized controlled trial presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting. The study evaluated SUPPORT+, a digital symptom-monitoring platform designed for patients receiving palliative care. The app sends weekly automated reminders prompting patients—or their caregivers—to complete a brief questionnaire about physical and emotional symptoms. Based on responses, the app provides self-management recommendations for mild or moderate symptoms and automatically alerts palliative care nurses when severe or worsening symptoms are reported. Nurses then follow up with patients through the app or by telephone.

Who are hospital ethics consultants, and why should you care? 
The Conversation; by Jennifer McCurdy; 6/2/26 
Imagine the following scenarios:

• A surgeon prepares to amputate a patient’s foot to save his life, but the patient refuses the procedure. ...
• A 17-year-old declines a liver transplant, while her mother insists on going forward with the lifesaving surgery.
• Siblings stand divided at the bedside of their 85-year-old mother with dementia, one rejecting a feeding tube, the other calling it a basic human necessity.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~ E.E. Cummings 
Honoring Pride Month, June 2026