C.A.R.S. benefit event raises $713,392 for children and families 
PR Newswire, Jacksonville, FL; The Foundation of Community Hospice & Palliative Care; 2/18/26 
The Foundation of Community Hospice & Palliative Care announced that its annual Children Are Rock Stars (C.A.R.S.) benefit event, presented by Ring Power, raised $713,392 to help provide life-enhancing care and support for children and families through Community PēdsCare® and Every Child Counts (ECC). Held on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at The Brumos Collection in Jacksonville, the event featured dinner and a live auction. It brought together sponsors, supporters, and community partners committed to making a meaningful difference for children facing serious illness and complex needs. 

Is your ladder leaning against the wrong wall? Richard Mobley on leadership and calling | part one 
Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); hosted by Chris Comeaux with Richard Mobley; 2/18/26 
What if you spend decades building a successful career—only to realize you were climbing the wrong ladder?  In this episode of TCNtalks / Anatomy of Leadership, executive leadership coach Richard Mobley, Founder and Principal of the Seven Four Group, Inc. and the Be Far More! System, joins Chris Comeaux to explore one of the most important questions leaders face: What comes after success? For CEOs, healthcare executives, and Hospice leaders approaching retirement or transition, this conversation centers on the critical shift from achievement to lasting significance—and what it truly means to finish well. 

Sage Park Austin establishes community partnerships to offer inpatient hospice services to residents 
LongTermCareProvider.com, Vero Beach, FL; Press Release; 2/3/26 
Sage Park Austin Senior Living Community is honored to announce the establishment of multiple community partnerships to offer General Inpatient (GIP) hospice services within their community. Sage Park Austin has partnered with Tree Oaks Hospice and Summit Home Health and Hospice offering varying levels of hospice care for appropriate patients. Services include, but are not limited to, extended nursing support, pain and symptom management, and interdisciplinary hospice support in a residential setting. 

Letter to the editor: Thank you for your support of Hospice of the Plains 
Special to Journal-Advocate, Sterling, CO; by Hospice of the Plains; 2/17/26  
On behalf of the entire Hospice of the Plains, Inc team, our hearts are full as we reflect on the incredible outpouring of support for this year's Fryin' and Buyin' Hometown Hospice Auction and Benefit. Thanks to the generosity, kindness, and community spirit of so many, this year's event was a remarkable success, raising around $48,500 to support compassionate hospice care right here at home. This auction was so much more than a fundraiser. It was a heartwarming celebration of community, connection, and shared purpose. [The rest of this letter may be limited to a paywall.]

Cognitive decline is often linked to hearing loss: This may be why
MedicalNewsToday; by James McIntosh; 2/16/26

• A new study finds an association between hearing loss and cognitive decline via shared changes in the brain.
• Structural atrophy and functional decline coupled together in specific areas of the brain correlated with both ‘worsening hearing thresholds and cognitive impairment.‘
• The study authors propose the ‘Functional-Structural Ratio’ or FSR as a way to measure these coupled changes, which could potentially become a tool for assessing dementia risk in people with age-related hearing loss.

Editor's Note: Pair this with our posts from 8/3/25, "Hearing loss, loneliness may contribute to cognitive decline in older adults." With these, Do you assess and train your interdisciplinary teams and volunteers on their communication skills with persons who have hearing loss? Do they simply speak louder at the patient? Ignore them and talk to the caregiver? Or do they all know--consistently across all direct care roles--how to sensitively, creatively communicate with the person? Note the differences between "talking to" and "communicating with." Click here for excellent "Do's and "Don'ts" to teach, Communicating with seniors who are deaf or hard of hearing, by SeniorLiving.Org.

Comparison of patients seen by an embedded social worker and nurse practitioner palliative care model in hospital medicine versus referral-based specialty palliative care and their acute care utilization outcomes 
Journal of Palliative Medicine; by Laura P Gelfman, Li Zeng, Keisha Bergland, Elizabeth Rizzo, Cheyenne Higgins, Claire Doucette, Krishna Chokshi, Emily Chai; 2/17/26 
Background: Hospitalized patients with serious illness often face delayed or limited access to palliative care. Embedded hospital primary palliative care (HPPC), led by social workers and nurse practitioners, may deliver more timely, needs-based support compared with referral-based specialty palliative care (SPC). Conclusions: An embedded SW/NP-led palliative care model in hospital medicine improves access, reduces acute care use, and is sustainable over time. This approach supports timely, culturally sensitive, needs-based palliative care and may be scalable for hospital-based delivery.

A patient’s visit home 
Parkview Health; by Tim O'Sullivan, Parkview Hospice; 2/17/26 
The Canal Stock Farm is more than a historical landmark along Old 24 in New Haven, Indiana. It is the home to now six generations of Ronald Hockemeyer’s family. Over the past year, members of the Parkview Hospice team had the privilege of getting to know Ron and the legacy of his familial home. ... Ron expressed his desire to have just one more day on the farm with his Parkview Hospice social worker, Emily Zimmerman. Emily was aware of a new program that makes the wishes of Parkview Hospice patients come true. She filled out the application and identified all the resources needed to secure a safe visit. Through the generosity of donors to the Parkview Foundation Hospice Fund, Ron’s day on the farm was made a reality.

Medicare crackdown on hospice affiliations threatening providers 
Bloomberg Law; by Patric Hooper, Jordan Kearney, and Maydha Vinson; 2/18/26 
A new federal enforcement trend is sending shockwaves through California’s hospice sector and beyond. Health care providers are discovering that their Medicare enrollment, and often their entire practice, can be jeopardized simply because of whom they once worked with, not because of anything they personally did. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services calls it affiliation. Under federal regulations, CMS or its contractors can revoke a provider’s Medicare enrollment if the agency determines that an affiliation poses an “undue risk” of fraud, waste, or abuse. 

Choice Health at Home acquires Alliant Home Health, Palliative Care, Hospice 
Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 2/17/26 
Choice Health at Home has acquired Alliant Home Health, as well as Alliant Palliative Care and Hospice. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. The two acquired businesses were part of Colorado-based Alliant Living, which provides hospice, home health and palliative care. Alliant Home Health’s services include occupational and physical therapy, as well as skilled nursing care for patients post-acute and chronic conditions. The acquisition expands Choice Health at Home’s existing geographic presence in the state. The transaction was recently completed following its closure on November 12, 2025.

Bridge Hospice Pet Adoption Program 
KCBD-11, Lubbock, TX; by Julie Castaneda; 2/17/26 
Bridge Hospice has started a Pet Adoption Program to help hospice patients, who often need loving homes for their well-loved pets during their end-of-life care.

Directors and Boards: Executive session, Episode 37: Lisa Piercey, Venita Fields and Charles Elson 
Executive Session, The Directors & Boards podcast; with Lisa Piercy, Venita Fields and Charles Elson; 2/17/26 
This episode explores composition on health-related boards, the role of the board in capital investment and allocation, and director compensation. ... In this episode of Executive Session, the official podcast of Directors & Boards, we speak with Lisa Piercey, director of National HealthCare Corporation, about the importance of having entrepreneurial clinicians on health-related boards. In our second interview, Venita Fields, director of Superior Group of Companies, examines the board’s role in capital investment and allocation. And in our final discussion, Charles Elson, director of Enhabit Home Health & Hospice and executive editor at large of Directors & Boards, dives into the principles that should guide director compensation.

Behind every flawless performance is a thousand falls on the ice.