Literature Review

SSM Health donates $25,000 to help Central Missourians with hardship assistance News Tribune; by Jennifer Pallikkathayil; 9/15/26 SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital has donated $25,000 to the In Time of Need Foundation to help Central Missourians with basic needs during a significant medical event. The In Time of Need Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Phoenix Home Care and Hospice, which has a location in Jefferson City and offers home health care and hospice services. The foundation was created to help people get through significant or catastrophic medical events by assisting with basic needs, such as rent or a hotel stay while receiving surgery in another city or a working air conditioner for a cancer patient, said Greg Kelley, vice president of operations at Phoenix Home Care and Hospice.

The critical competencies hospice leaders must build for value-based care cuccess | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Dr. Jessica Hubbs; 9/16/26 Value-based care isn’t just changing how hospice gets paid—it’s redefining what hospice leaders must be capable of delivering. In Part One of The Critical Competencies Hospice Leaders Must Build for Value-Based Care Success, host Chris Comeaux sits down with Dr. Jessica Hubbs, Chief Clinical Officer at Advanced Care Innovations, to explore the accelerating shift from fee-for-service healthcare toward models built around outcomes, total cost of care, and coordinated care delivery.  Dr. Hubbs explains why emerging models such as LEAD (Long-term Enhanced ACO Design) matter to hospice and palliative care leaders—and why the movement upstream into serious illness and home-based care could represent both a competitive headwind and an extraordinary opportunity.

When a friend becomes a caregiver HealthDay; by Paula Span; 9/14/26 ... “The number of older adults who have never married or are divorced has been increasing, so we have more people aging alone,” said Deborah Carr, a sociologist at Boston University who has investigated these trends. “The proportion who are childless, by choice or not, is also growing,” she added, and families with children have fewer of them than in past generations. Geographic distances or family estrangements also fuel the need for other kinds of caregivers — roles that friends or neighbors can fill. How commonly do friends step into caregiving gaps? A recently published study in JAMA Network Open, led by researchers at the University of Michigan, looked into friends and neighbors serving as caregivers, usually in supplementary roles. ...

Effective palliative care for hospice transitionsJAMA Internal Medicine; by May Hua, MD, MS, Miguel Cid, MPH, Claire Barshied, PhD, Rachel C. Shelton, ScD, MPH, Grace Hu, MPH, Natasha Stekl, MPH, Carrie Brill, BS5; Elise C. Carey, MD, and R. Sean Morrison, MD; 9/14/26 Question: What factors impact the ability of palliative care teams to affect hospice use for patients with metastatic cancer?Findings: In this qualitative study across 6 sites with interviews among 93 clinicians and patients, institutions with high and low performance in hospice use exhibited substantive differences in the relationship between palliative care and oncology teams. At high-performing sites, the relationship was characterized by mutual trust and respect, warmth and familiarity, and empathy for each other, while at low-performing sites, the relationship was characterized by a lack of trust and familiarity as well as negative regard for each other.Meaning: These findings suggest that the relationship between palliative care and oncology teams is a modifiable factor that could affect care delivery and patient outcomes.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~ Mark Twain

How nurses fit into the modern healthcare team World Business Outlook; blog; 9/15/26 Care is rarely delivered by one expert acting alone. It is built through constant coordination, quick decisions, and a steady flow of information between professionals. In that shared space, nurses often become the people who connect everyone else. 

LeadingAge CEO to step down in 2027 Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/15/26 LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit and mission-driven providers of aging services, today announced that President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan will step down, effective March 31, 2027. Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, will step down effective March 31, 2027. Smith Sloan has led the association of nonprofit aging services providers since 2016. She previously served as LeadingAge’s COO, beginning in 2002. To date, the organization has not named a successor.

Every nurse is an advocate ONS | Voice; by Brenda Van Sambeek; 9/15/26 ... Advocacy happens when we raise a safety concern, help a patient overcome barriers to treatment, mentor a new colleague, or suggest a better way to deliver care. Most nurses advocate regularly; we simply may not think of those actions as advocacy.Why Nurses Needs a Seat at the Table ...

How to shift from spotlight to lighthouse leadership Forbes; by Julie Kratz; 9/13/26 Leadership is no longer measured solely by individual achievements or how loudly you market your accomplishments. Instead, the trajectory of your professional growth and long-term talent retention relies on how effectively you elevate those around you. Building an environment defined by trust, equity, and sustainable performance requires a fundamental pivot in how managers view their role. ...  When leaders transition away from self-centered management styles, they elevate workplace culture, strengthen allyship, and dramatically accelerate their own career impact.

Hospice Foundation of America receives Partner of the Year Award from Penn State College of MedicineHospice Foundation of America, Washington, DC; Press Release, Cindy Bramble; 9/11/26 Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) was named 2026 Partner of the Year by the Penn State University College of Medicine [Thursday, 9/10]. The award recognizes HFA’s significant contributions to a National Institutes of Health funded research initiative, the Project Talk Trial, which studied how to best engage communities across the U.S. in advance care planning. ... With its vast national network, HFA connected PSU College of Medicine researchers to community organizations across the country to bring advance care planning conversations to 1,799 people in 78 communities across 32 states and the District of Columbia. Project Talk Trial is the largest research study of its kind.Editor's Note: Congratulations, Hospice Foundation of America! We thank you for your longstanding, innovative leadership to improve hospice care throughout our nation.

[United Kingdom] Dad who hates sand to take on Sahara trek BBC News; by Emma Stanley; 9/13/26 A dad who hates sand is trekking the Sahara Desert to raise money for the hospice that cares for his son. Andrew Privett, from Leyland in Lancashire, is one of 31 adventurers who are preparing to trek 30 miles (48km) across Morocco's Erg Chegaga Dunes over six days in November. They will face extreme temperatures, challenging terrain and long days beneath the desert sun, in the first overseas challenge for Chorley's Derian House Children's Hospice.

Enhancing quality of life for terminally ill veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond Medscape | Federal Practitioner; by Denise Kresevic, PhD, RN, APN-BC, Marilyn Swanson, DNP, RN, FNP-C, Muralidhar Pallaki, MD, Bridgette Wasil, MSN, RN CHPN, Rosalie Diaz, PsyD, and Christopher J. Burant, PhD; 9/14/26 Background: Honoring individualized preferences for end-of-life interventions for veterans is a priority for families and caregivers. Medications used to treat symptoms such as pain, anxiety, and delirium may also result in sedation, making it difficult to balance comfort while minimizing sedation. ... Conclusions: The See Me, Hear Me, Comfort Me model may help hospice teams better align end-of-life care with individual preferences. ...

Perceived importance of good death components among patients with advanced cancer and family caregivers JAMA Network; by Hammoda Abu-Odah, PhD, Gulbeyaz Can, PhD, Sotirios Plakas, PhD, Juanjuan Zhao, PhD, Xixi Wang, MSN, Alexandros Stergiou, MSc(c), Ourania Govina, PhD, Kimya Kilicaslan, PhD, Bahar Ozdemir, MD, Matthew J. Allsop, PhD, Mitsunori Miyashita, PhD, Alex Molassiotis, PhD, Janelle Yorke, PhD, and Frances Kam Yuet Wong, PhD; 9/14/26Importance: Although the concept of a good death is central to palliative care policy and practice, empirical evidence is largely derived from high-income Western or single-country contexts, limiting cross-setting relevance.Objective: To determine the importance of good death components, compare priorities across settings, and examine patient–caregiver differences and setting-by-role interactions. ... Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, patients with advanced cancer and family caregivers across 5 settings shared a broad aspiration for a good death, but priorities varied across settings. Emotional peace, dignity, and family connection were consistently highly valued. These findings suggest that culturally sensitive palliative care models should recognize both shared end-of-life priorities and setting-specific meanings of a good death.