Literature Review

Estimating the number of services & patients receiving specialized palliative care globally in 2025 Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Stephen R Connor, Eduardo Garralda, Vilma A Tripodoro, Carlos Centeno; 7/28/25 online ahead of print ... In 2025, the estimated number of specialized palliative care service delivery teams worldwide reached approximately 33,700 - representing a 32.7% increase from the 25,000 identified in 2017. Service delivery expanded across all WHO regions except Africa. The estimated number of patients served rose from 7 million in 2017 to approximately 10.4 million in 2025. This figure represents roughly 14% of the total global need for palliative care. ... Despite notable growth in service availability, significant disparities persist, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. While over half of the need appears to be met in high-income countries, only 4.4% is addressed by specialist provision in low and middle-income countries. 

Fundraising month raises $38,000 for Mt. Hood Hospice The Outlook; by Christopher Keizur; 7/30/25 A group of businesses came together to present an annual fundraising check to an organization all about caring for those at the end of their life. Every June is “Support Mt. Hood Hospice Month,” spurred by Clackamas County Bank. The campaign includes events and fundraising events that bring together all sorts of businesses, organizations and community members. This year, the combined efforts raised $38,493.22 for Mt. Hood Hospice. Those involved presented the check Thursday morning, July 24, at the hospice.

Agrace: Selected as preferred hospice provider to Crossing Rivers Health WisBusiness; Prairie du Chien, WI; Press Release; 7/30/25 Agrace, Wisconsin’s largest nonprofit hospice, is pleased to announce that after months of discussions with Crossing Rivers Health, it will take over the health system’s hospice program. The two organizations have also entered into a Preferred Partner Agreement to support the local community’s ongoing needs for high quality end of life care. This agreement comes three months after Agrace’s preferred partnership with Oakwood Village Communities and supports Agrace’s rapid growth across the state of Wisconsin. Crossing Rivers Health, based in Prairie du Chien, has decided to close its hospice service line to focus on their core healthcare services. Current Wisconsin Crossing Rivers Health Hospice patients will have the option to transition to Agrace’s care by the end of September. 

The ‘accidental’ hospice chaplain The Dallas Weekly (DW), Dallas, TX; by Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware; 7/30/25 “I’m an accidental chaplain,” says Rev. Dr. Missiouri McPhee, an ordained African Methodist Episcopal minister who works with Orlando Health, a nonprofit healthcare company based in Florida. A Florida A&M University graduate, McPhee was working on her theology doctorate in Atlanta when a classmate, a chaplain at a hospital in Orlando, ... [kept saying to me,] "Missiouri, you need to come interview with my hospital." ... Fast forward a few years, and McPhee found herself taking on work as a hospice chaplain, arguably the most challenging and rewarding specialty in ministry. She currently works in the Central Florida area for VITAS Healthcare, a major provider of hospice and palliative care. ...

Welcome to August, where we’re still melting and pretending to enjoy it!

5 top types of quality data hospices should be watching Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 7/31/25 ... To attract payers and other potential business partners, hospices should focus on tracking live discharges, levels of care and care settings, visit frequency and timeliness, patient and caregiver experience and length of stay. This is according to a new report, Measures That Matter, which was prepared by a team of hospice leaders and experts. These experts, who convened multiple times between July 2023 and December 2024, sought to identify the indicators of quality that matter most to payers and referral organizations, particularly in the context of value-based care. “The best way hospices can leverage these data is to be excellent. This is where things are moving,” Dr. Ira Byock, hospice and palliative care physician and founder of the Institute for Human Caring at Providence St. Joseph Health, told Hospice News. 

VITAS® Healthcare announces CEO transition and appointment of new Chief Executive OfficerGlobeNewswire, Miramar, FL; Press Release; 7/30/25VITAS Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading providers of hospice and palliative care, and a subsidiary of Chemed Corporation (NYSE: CHE), today announced that Nicholas M. Westfall will step down as chairman and chief executive officer to pursue other personal and professional opportunities. Joel L. Wherley, president and chief operating officer, was appointed by the Board to succeed Westfall as chief executive officer of VITAS Healthcare. Westfall has served as CEO since 2016, leading VITAS through a period of meaningful growth, operational transformation and reinvestment in its people. “It has been an honor to lead VITAS Healthcare and work alongside such a talented team,” said Westfall. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together and confident that Joel is the right leader to take the company forward.”

Aveanna SVP: Hospice providers fed up with fraud Hospice News; by JIm Parker; 7/29/25 Issues surrounding Medicare fraud are “top of mind” for hospice providers, according to Jim Melancon, senior vice president of government affairs at Aveanna Healthcare Holdings (Nasdaq: AVAH). Reports of hospice fraud have proliferated in recent years, particularly in the four hotbed states of California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas. Fraudulent operators have used a slew of illegal or unethical tactics, such as enrolling Medicare beneficiaries in hospice care without their knowledge or without providing services. ... One principal tactic among fraudulent hospices is maintaining multiple provider numbers, hospice leaders told Hospice News on background. This enables perpetrators of fraud to move patients between the various hospices they own. Another common practice is transferring patients who have reached the payment cap to avoid recoupment.

Terminally ill nursing home patients face needless ER visits, hospital stays HealthDay; by Dennis Thompson; 7/28/25 Terminally ill nursing home residents are being hounded to their graves with needless trips to the hospital, a new study says. About 80% of ER visits by terminally ill nursing home residents are potentially avoidable, researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Likewise, nearly one-third of hospitalizations among these residents were needless, the study says. Pneumonia, urinary tract infections (UTIs) and sepsis commonly resulted in needless trips to the hospital for terminally ill patients, but better health care and management at nursing homes could have kept these people out of the hospital, researchers argue. 

How leaders undermine their own authority Harvard Business Review (HBR) On Leadership; podcast with Peter Bregman; 7/23/25 Does your organization lack quality leadership? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Peter Bregman, the CEO of Bregman Partners and author of the book Leading with Emotional Courage. They talk through what to do when your leaders are indecisive, unprofessional, or value the wrong things.Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, organizational culture, emotional intelligence.

Montville Township man golfs 100 holes for charity The Gazette, Montville Township, NJ; by Sara Crawford; 7/29/25 While a thick fog may have covered Fox Meadow Country Club on Monday morning, Montville Township resident Pat Spoerndle didn’t let that stop him from starting to golf at 6:30 a.m. as he played 100 holes of golf in one day as part of his annual charity event, “100 for Hospice.” In 2009, Spoerndle decided to host a one-time charitable golf outing. He set a goal of $10,000 and made plans to play 100 holes of golf within a day, all for Hospice of Medina County. “I was going to do it just the one time,” he said. “(I then) decided it would be wrong to do because we were able to raise so much money for a great organization. We just built on it every year.” Since the fundraiser’s start 17 years ago, Spoerndle has raised almost $600,000 for Hospice of Medina County. He expects to raise more than $25,000 this year, but said it’s too early to tell how much they’ve raised.

Doctors’ own end-of-life choices defy common medical practice Medscape; by Cristina Ferrario; 7/29/25 A new survey revealed that most doctors would decline aggressive treatments, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), ventilation, or tube feeding for themselves if faced with advanced cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, choosing instead symptom relief and, in many cases, assisted dying. ... The researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1157 physicians, including general practitioners, palliative care specialists, and other clinicians from Belgium, Italy, Canada, the US, and Australia. ... Over 90% preferred symptom-relief medication, and more than 95% declined CPR, mechanical ventilation, or tube feeding. Only 0.5% would choose CPR for cancer and 0.2% for Alzheimer’s disease. Around 50%-54% supported euthanasia in both cases.