Literature Review

6 Coloradans took to the Colorado River to grieve. What they found was a way to feel less alone. The Colorado Sun, Loma, CO; by Shannon Mullane; 9/28/25 Losing a loved one leaves people reeling. It forces the body to reconfigure deep bonds and impacts health. One Colorado River retreat aims to help people navigate. ... One by one, the members — all Colorado residents who ranged in age from their 40s to their 70s — shared their stories of death and grief. It was the start of a grief therapy retreat on the Colorado River, and the clients and crew members on the trip had lost parents, children and life partners. This moment was what they came for: a chance to open up space in their day-to-day lives to grieve. With other people who know what it’s like. Without having to act like they were holding it together. ... In their seven years of operation, Podmore and Pathfinders have offered about 20 grief retreats on the Colorado River for over 160 clients of all ages — including everyone from children to seniors — mostly from the Roaring Fork Valley in western Colorado. 

Expert: In preparation for debut of HOPE tool Wednesday, hospices should provide training, adhere to timelines McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 9/28/25 With the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool scheduled to roll out Wednesday, hospice providers need to get up to speed, ... Katy Barnett, director of home care and hospice operations and policy at LeadingAge, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse ... "To be successful with the new tool, providers need to adhere to a few best practices. ... Providers should have a designated staff member making sure that their assessments are uploaded within 30 days of completion and that they are accepted by the iQIES system,” she said. “In the first quarter of implementation, meeting the 90% threshold for timely reporting of data is key.” Barnett added, “Providers need to make sure they’re meeting the two-day timeline for symptom follow-up visits and that they’re tracking completion either within their EMR or externally. This is really important since the visits will count towards publicly reported quality measures starting in January.”Guest Editor's Note, from Judi Lund-Person: For patients who are already on service on October 1, hospices will only use the HOPE discharge process and will not use the HUV or SFV visits.  Have you registered for iQIES yet? There is still time….. although every hospice will want to pay close attention to the 90% compliance threshold – if it is not met, there could be a 4% payment reduction for the following year. Good luck with your final preparations!

There is urgent need to integrate respiratory and palliative care American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC); by Maggie L. Shaw and Natasha Smallwood; 9/27/25 Patients with serious, nonmalignant respiratory illnesses experience profound and prolonged symptoms that significantly reduce their quality of life, explained Natasha Smallwood, BMedSci, MBBS, MSc, on day 1 of the European Respiratory Society Congress 2025. “Someone with COPD, might live with, on average, 11 symptoms for a few years, which is actually far worse than living with lung cancer,” she said. ... The core concept involves collaboration between respiratory clinicians, general practitioners, and palliative care specialists to deliver a different, more holistic type of care.

Cook Children’s physician testifies in Jarvey trialTexomas, Wichita Falls, TX KFDX/KJTL; by Joshua Hoggard; 9/26/25AUTHOR’S NOTE: This story contains details from trial proceedings that include allegations of abuse against a child victim. Due to the content of this story, discretion is advised before reading. ...Hospice physician concludes first week of trial: After lunch, Carlton called Dr. J. Robert Parkey to the witness stand. Dr. Parkey works with United Regional Healthcare Systems and specializes in hospice medicine. ... Dr. Parkey testified that he provided care for the victim after he was born, noting the severe medical issues the child was born with, including an abnormal brain. ... Dr. Parkey testified that the victim “exceeded all expectations” of the Hospice care team by surviving, ... He testified that the team instructed Jarvey on how to properly care for the child once he transitioned from hospice care to home care. Dr. Parkey testified that if Jarvey had reached out to the Hospice team, plenty of resources would’ve been made available to her, but to his knowledge, Jarvey never contacted them regarding the care of her son.

10 top areas for growth, per health system CEOs and CFOs Becker's Hospital Review; by Laura Dyrda; 9/25/25 As healthcare continues to face financial pressures, workforce shortages, and rising patient expectations, health system executives are reimagining their strategies for growth. In a series of connections with C-suite leaders across the country, 10 themes surfaced again and again ... Here are the 10 most frequently cited growth areas, and how they shape the future of healthcare.

The question should be, is it worth trying to do, not can it be done. ~ Allard Lowenstein

Melinda Mullet: Hospice helps us die well. But barriers and misconceptions prevent access to services. The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA; by Melinda Mullet; 9/28/25 Hospice helps us die well. But barriers and misconceptions prevent access to services. ... To read an in-depth analysis of the barriers to hospice and the steps needed to ensure a robust end-of-life care in the future, my full report, “The Hope of Hospice: Reimaging End-of-Life Care in an Aging America,” is available at cpjustice.org/flipbook/2025-hatfield-prize-reports.

Honoring the life of Dr. Balfour Mount[Obituary link will be shared when available]; Ira Byock; 9/28/25Dr. Balfour Mount died on September 25th in Montreal. Dr. Mount was one of the true founders of the field of hospice and palliative care. After his own experience with testicular cancer as a young man, he trained as a urologic oncologist. Early in his clinical career, Dr. Mount became aware of Dr. Cicely Saunders’ development of hospice in England. He visited St. Christopher’s to learn from Dr. Saunders and brought back the concept of hospice care to McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He coined “palliative care” as a more acceptable term to French speaking Quebec. He went on to develop Palliative Care McGill, the first academic palliative care program in North America. He directed this clinical and research program for decades. Dr. Mount’s prolific writings and compelling lectures on care of people with life-limiting conditions helped spark the nascent field. He served on the Board of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Mount mentored many of the next generation of leaders of the field. It is a fitting culmination of his life-long work that he was cared for in the final days of life in the palliative care unit of the McGill’s Royal Victoria Hospital that he developed and led for many years.Guest Editor’s Note: As a physician-in-training in the mid-1970s, Balfour Mount’s articles on care of dying people electrified me. He was one of the very few physicians who was articulating both the need and explaining how to care well for dying patients. I had the privilege of becoming one of his mentees and of having Bal as a friend for many years. He was a truly remarkable man who leaves a legacy that we are all continuing to fulfill.

Virtual visits boost hospice home care services across Dallas-Fort Worth area The Smithfield Times, Aubrey, TX; Press Services; 9/26/25 Sovereign Hospice in Aubrey, TX, explains how telehealth and virtual visits help patients and families get hospice home care services faster. In the Dallas–Fort Worth area, these tools let nurses and doctors check patients quickly and answer questions without delay. Families far away can also join care meetings by video, making them part of the journey and improving understanding of the services the hospice offers.

Busted: The top fraud schemes of Q2 2025 Cotiviti; by Erin Rutzler; 9/25/25As we move through 2025, the pace of fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) schemes in healthcare show no signs of slowing. This past quarter brought cases involving unlicensed clinics, hospice kickbacks, insider deception, and prescription fraud totaling billions in false claims. Read our breakdown of 10 major healthcare FWA schemes from April through June 2025—and what they reveal about the evolving tactics of bad actors. ...

September teaches us that change doesn’t have to be sudden to be powerful — sometimes the quietest transformations are the most meaningful. ~ Unknown