Literature Review

EverHeart Hospice to be featured on all access with Andy Garcia Mercer County Outlook, Greenville, OH; 10/27/25 EverHeart Hospice is set to be featured in an upcoming national documentary distributed to public television on “All Access with Andy Garcia.” The segment will provide vital education on the topics of hospice and palliative care, highlighting the compassionate, specialized support EverHeart Hospice provides to its patients and families. ... The feature will be distributed nationally, reaching major markets in all fifty states, with an anticipated availability in early 2026 for circulation. The national emphasis on distribution will help demystify end-of-life care and promote a greater understanding of the benefits of both hospice and palliative services to viewing audiences.

Concierge medicine, explainedBecker's Clinical Leadership; by Paige Twenter; 10/24/25Health systems are increasingly offering concierge medicine, a market predicted to be worth over $13 billion by 2030... What exactly is concierge medicine, though? Concierge medicine is a direct primary care service model in which a healthcare provider offers their services for a fixed periodic fee, often through a membership or retainer fee. The costs and covered services vary widely, and many are out-of-pocket. Some aspects are still billed to insurance, though, including labs and imaging. In 2014, the average concierge medicine service charged $1,500 to $1,700 per year. By 2025, the median service rose to cost between $2,000 and $5,000 per year, according to concierge practice PartnerMD. Another estimate said annual fees range between $1,000 and $20,000.Publisher's note: How might the provision of concierge medicine impact the delivery of hospice care?

Stitched with love: Allied’s memory bears offer comfort to grieving families in Northeast Pennsylvania WVIA News - PBS/NPR, Scranton, PA; by Lydia McFarlane; 10/27/25 Barbara Rushinski received a bear made of her partner’s pajamas after he passed in hospice care at Allied Services. She was so moved, she put her sewing skills to good use and joined the team of volunteers making the bears for grieving families in Northeast Pennsylvania. ... Allied offers its memory bears to grieving families whose loved ones died in hospice. ... Joyce Wizda started the program at Allied more than six years ago when she joined the healthcare system as a social worker. ... She estimates the volunteers make about 150 bears a year. ... Wizda encourages families to send in clothing items from their loved one’s closet to ease their grieving journey.

When words matter: NFDA releases groundbreaking communication guide for funeral professionals National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), Brookfield, WI; Press Release; 10/27/25 The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) has released “When Words Matter: A Funeral Director’s Guide to Clear and Compassionate Communication,” a groundbreaking, research-driven resource designed to bridge the growing language gap between funeral professionals and the families they serve. ... Available now as a free download at NFDA.org/Research, this new guide is grounded in original NFDA research conducted earlier this year with more than 1,100 U.S. consumers across four generations. ... While funeral professionals have long used terms like “funeral,” “memorial service” and “celebration of life,” the new study revealed that families often define – or misunderstand – these terms in radically different ways. Editor's Note: Basic decisions about burial versus cremation usually need to be made before the death. Your interdisciplinary team members need to be up-to-date with this NFDA communication guide, for consistent family information and planning.

Here is what no one tells you about watching your wonderful dad slowly slipping away in front of you HuffPost Personal; by Jill Bodach; 10/25/25 ... When I get the call at 2:30 a.m. from my dad’s nursing home, dread slaps me awake, and I answer in an almost whisper. They say, “Your father is having trouble breathing. We’ve sent him to Bridgeport Hospital.” ... In the emergency department, I am led into a waiting room. ... He is transferred to the ICU, and again I am told to wait. ... When I am finally allowed to see him, family members in other rooms look up when I walk by. Some smile and nod. A knowing. I smile back. We’re all in this together in some weird way the universe has planned. ...

Best of Beth Ashley: After a life well lived, facing the sadness together Marin Independent Journal; by Beth Ashley, this IJ is reprinting some of the late Beth Ashley’s columns. This is from 2014; 10/27/25 A dear friend is now being cared for by hospice. Like so many others, she has trusted hospice to see her through the last days of her life. Knowing that she may soon die is a blow to the heart. But it’s not as though I haven’t known that for all of us, life ends sometimes. That doesn’t make it any easier. By now, a huge assortment of dear ones have left my here and now. My parents are gone. My beloved second husband. My two sisters. My precious son Jeff. And so many friends I’ve lost count, including my best friend and fellow traveler for years and years, my Stanford classmate Skid. I still talk to them all. My mom has not really left my life; I’m just with her in a different way. ... Whenever these endings come near, it’s important to express our love, and face the final sadness together.

Hospice market expands at 9.6% CAGR, projected to hit USD 182.1 billion Market.Us Media; by Trishita Deb; 10/26/25 The Global Hospice Market is projected to reach USD 182.1 billion by 2033, growing from USD 72.8 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 9.6%. ... Challenges:

After her son’s painful death, a Cheshire mother highlights Connecticut’s pediatric hospice gap New Haven Register, Norwalk, CT; by Cris Villalonga-Vivoni; 10/26/25 Carolyn Torello believes that no parent should outlive their children, yet that became her reality. ...  As his condition worsened, the family faced his impending death without the support of pediatric palliative or hospice care. No provider, she said, seemed to know how to help or where to begin. He died at 15 years old in 2021. ... In 2020, an estimated 7,800 children in Connecticut were living with complex medical conditions that limited their life expectancy and could have benefited from palliative or hospice care, according to data from the National Survey of Children's Health. ... Torello thinks that if Michael had access to hospice care, he could have died with greater dignity, and their family could have focused on simply being together. ... Efforts to create a more formalized pediatric palliative care system have been underway since 2024, led by a state-commissioned working group that will make recommendations to the legislature on potential reforms.

Three tried-and-true strategies AHCA Gold Quality Award winners use to land and keep staff McKnights Long-Term Care News, Las Vegas, NV; by Kimberly Marselas; 10/22/25 Leaders of three of the nation’s best-performing nursing homes shared ... outside-the-box recruitment and retention strategies that have made robust staffing the linchpin of their respective quality-improvement journeys. ... Here, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News shares a few of the role model practices Peters and her two 2025 Gold National Quality Award peers rely on to create staff loyalty, even in highly competitive markets.

New hospice CEO embracing role, mission Messenger-Inquirer; by Michele Lohman; 10/24/25 As a past board member and board president, Blake Edge, recently named the new CEO of Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Kentucky following the retirement of Brenda Knollenberg, was already familiar with the services provided by the nonprofit organization. He has a goal to educate communities about hospice, which provides end-of-life care to individuals and families in Daviess, Hancock, Hopkins, and Muhlenberg counties.