Literature Review

Avow selected to provide hospice care in Lee, Glades, and Hendry CountiesSouth Florida Hospital News; 6/25/25Avow is proud to announce that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has notified Avow of its intent to select the organization to provide hospice services in Lee, Glades and Hendry counties, following AHCA’s preliminary approval of Avow’s Certificate of Need (CON) application. This important decision will expand Avow’s compassionate, high-quality hospice care for residents throughout Southwest Florida.

UnitedHealth Group names Patrick Conway CEO of Optum HealthModern Healthcare; by John Tozzi; 6/26/25The leader of UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s Optum Health care delivery unit has left the role, an early indication of management changes under Stephen Hemsley, UnitedHealth’s new chief executive officer. The division will now be led by Patrick Conway, who was recently promoted to CEO of the broader Optum division that includes Optum Health.

If you want to know where your heart is, watch where your mind goes when you daydream. ~Walt Whitman

Social Media Watch 6/27/25

National health expenditure projections, 2024–33: Despite insurance coverage declines, health to grow as share of GDPHealth Affairs; by Sean P. Keehan, Andrew J. Madison, John A. Poisal, Gigi A. Cuckler, Sheila D. Smith, Andrea M. Sisko, Jacqueline A. Fiore, Kathryn E. Rennie; 6/25/25National health expenditures are projected to have grown 8.2 percent in 2024 and to increase 7.1 percent in 2025, reflecting continued strong growth in the use of health care services and goods. During the period 2026–27, health spending growth is expected to average 5.6 percent, partly because of a decrease in the share of the population with health insurance (related to the expiration of temporarily enhanced Marketplace premium tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022) and partly because of an anticipated slowdown in utilization growth from recent highs. Each year for the full 2024–33 projection period, national health care expenditure growth (averaging 5.8 percent) is expected to outpace that for the gross domestic product (GDP; averaging 4.3 percent) and to result in a health share of GDP that reaches 20.3 percent by 2033 (up from 17.6 percent in 2023).

Local hospice center closing after 40 years in SLO[CA] The Tribune; by Chloe Shrager; 6/24/25Wilshire Health & Community Services, a San Luis Obispo-based hospice and community care center, will close its doors on June 30, 2025, after over four decades of operation on the Central Coast. Wilshire offered comprehensive at-home clinical health, senior and hospice care services like nursing, home aids and different types of therapy to thousands of patients across SLO and northern Santa Barbara counties... SLO based hospice care center to close due to financial struggles.

Screening for intimate partner violence and caregiver abuse of older or vulnerable adults: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation StatementJAMA Network; 6/24/25Importance Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects millions of US residents across the lifespan and is often unrecognized. Abuse of older or vulnerable adults by a caregiver or someone else they may trust is common and can result in significant injury, death, and long-term adverse health consequences.

h/care expands presence in Arizona through partnership with American Premier Home Health, Hospice, and Palliative CareUS Daily Ledger press release; 6/24/25h/care, a national leader in home health and hospice care, proudly announces the addition of American Premier Home Health, Hospice, and Palliative Care, a highly respected provider in the Phoenix area, to its growing platform. This partnership which commenced in February marks another significant milestone in h/care’s mission to deliver high-touch, high-tech, and high-trust care to aging Americans in their homes.

Dealing with death: Unavoidable med student rite of passageMedscape; by Joanna Broder; 6/23/25When Kristina Newport, MD, was a first-year medical resident doing a night shift at a small veterans’ hospital, one of her patients, who was very sick with multiple chronic diseases, made the decision to forego further treatments... Ultimately, this patient died peacefully with his daughter sitting next to him. For Newport, the experience was “remarkable” and transformative and led her to go into palliative care medicine. It was also so different from many of the patient deaths that followed, where the teams she was part of tried many interventions to no avail. “Our job is to alleviate suffering,” Newport told Medscape Medical News. “And sometimes that means allowing people to die naturally. And so, my first experience really cemented that and helped me to understand how valuable it is to play a therapeutic role in that situation and allow that process to happen.”Notable mentions: Raya Kheirbek, Ira Byock, and Kayla Fresco.

Best Buy sells Current Health to former CEOModern Healthcare; by Caroline Hudson; 6/24/25Current Health cofounder Chris McGhee has reacquired the at-home care company from Best Buy Co. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed... Tech titan Best Buy announced plans to acquire Current in 2021 for about $400 million, as part of its push into the healthcare market. Current, which was founded in 2015, offers a platform for remote patient-monitoring, telehealth and patient engagement tools. It became an integral part of Best Buy Health’s efforts to expand at-home care services, including hospital-at-home technology... However, cracks in Best Buy’s healthcare strategy began to show months ago.

Hospice of the Piedmont prioritizes mental health care[NC] Fox 8 WGHP; by Cassie Fambro; 6/20/25Dealing with a life-limiting illness can involve many trips to the doctor, pharmacy and even the emergency room at all hours and carrying around medical records and balancing medication schedules. When a physician, a patient and their family come to the decision that hospice is the right choice, new resources open up to make the physical aspect of care much easier, but that’s not all. A critical part of hospice treatment is mental health care. “We truly think of not just the patient as the one we are caring for, but their whole kind of unit … if that’s family or friends, whoever is pitching in to be part of their care team,” said Caroline Oxford, director of family care services at Hospice of the Piedmont.

Experts share how to protect against the downsides of AI in healthcareHealthcare Brew; by Cassie McGrath; 6/25/25There’s a lot of hype about AI in healthcare, experts say, but being transparent is essential. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made its way into healthcare, from note-taking to voice agents. Conversations around liability and legislation are already happening, and there’s no doubt that AI is starting to change how care is delivered. Already 75% of big healthcare companies are “experimenting with or planning to scale generative AI across the enterprise,” according to Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. But less discussed are the potential downsides of this new technology...

Elara Caring names new CEOMcKnight's Home Care; by Adam Healy; 6/25/25Elara Caring, a home health, home care and hospice provider serving 18 states, disclosed Wednesday that it has appointed Ananth Mohan as its new chief executive officer, effective immediately. He succeeds Scott Powers.