Literature Review

How to perform a Regret Audit: A simple question that can help you live with purpose and have fewer regrets. Psychology Today; by Jordan Grumet, MD; 7/20/25 As a hospice doctor, I’ve spent countless hours sitting at the bedsides of dying patients, listening to the echoes of lives well-lived and those haunted by regret. As Bronnie Ware described in The Five Regrets of the Dying, many end-of-life reflections center around missed chances to live more authentically, joyfully, and meaningfully. But we don’t have to wait until our final moments to face these truths. I’ve long advocated for the hospice life review as a proactive tool. It’s a structured set of questions used by hospice professionals to help patients process their lives and find peace. The questions are simple but profound:

CIOs’ tech wishlist: What IT leaders would buy with a blank check Becker's Health IT; by Naomi Diaz; 7/14/25 If hospital and health system CIOs had unlimited resources, where would they place their biggest technology bets? Becker’s asked several IT leaders: If you had a blank check to invest in one technology tomorrow, what would it be and why? [Only a few responses are listed here. Go to the source article for the IT leaders' name, organization, role, and answer.]

Changing funeral preferences: NFDA’s first-of-its-kind generational report now available National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), Brookfield, WI; Press Release; 4/2/25 The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, has released an unprecedented study examining consumer attitudes toward funeral service across generations. Available to funeral service professionals for download at no charge, Changing Consumer Preferences: A Generational Perspective on Attitudes Toward Funeral Service provides critical insights to help funeral service professionals adapt to evolving expectations and continue delivering meaningful memorial experiences. ... Key findings include:

Ok, please help calm my anxiety. My mother has drastically improved in the last couple of days since goin on hospice. Aging Care; by Oedgar23; 7/17/25 So in the hospital, my mother was in kidney failure. The last couple days after stopping vancomycin for about five days, her GFR had come up to 19. That’s the most recent Number and then they stopped drawing labs because we placed her on Hospice. We consulted with palliative care team. They wanted to do a feeding tube and we said no. They said she had advanced dementia. [Describes improvements since hospice.] ... What if she gets taken off hospice? ... What if she no longer qualifies for hospice, passes as normal cognitively, starts demanding to go home, does not qualify for long-term care, Medicaid, etc. ... But I am super unnerved because she looks a whole lot better than she has been looking. ...Editor's Note: Yes, we all know that the person can get better with hospice care, because of holistic person-centered care, caregiver education and support, and many more factors. This can be confusing. The dying trajectory may have been interrupted or simply calmed with better symptom management and quality of life. This daughter is asking normal, crucial questions which the hospice team needs to be addressing with her. Examine your live discharge data, Policies and Procedures, communication practices with the patient and family about recertifications, Incident Reports from upset caregivers/families, and CAHPS Hospice scores.

The most effective way to do it is to do it. ~ Toni Cade Bambara

Carter, Bera introduce bill to strengthen palliative and hospice care workforce United States Representative Buddy Carter, Washington, DC; Press Release; 7/17/25Reps. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) and Ami Bera, M.D. (D-CA) today introduced the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA), bipartisan legislation to invest in training, education, and research for the palliative care and hospice workforce, allowing more practitioners to enter these in-demand fields. ... "As a pharmacist, I understand the toll burnout takes on the health care industry, and I am committed to bolstering the workforce so nurses, doctors, and all health care workers can continue to pursue their passion for helping others,” said Rep. Carter. "As a doctor, I know how important it is to provide patients with comfort, clarity, and support when they’re facing serious illness,” said Rep. Bera. “The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act is a smart, bipartisan step to ensure more health care professionals are trained to deliver this kind of care."Editor's Note: Bravo to this pharmacist and physician bipartisan team for introducing this bill. Go to the article and scroll down to this press release's long list of "Supporting Organizations."

51 healthcare leaders’ takes on doing more with less Becker's Hospital Review; by Allie Woldenberg, Kelly Gooch, Mariah Taylor, Giles Bruce, Kristin Kuchno, and  Andrew Cass; 7/17/25 It’s a directive that hospitals and health systems of every size know well — whether sprawling academic medical centers, multistate nonprofit systems or rural, independent 25-bed hospitals. While the phrase isn’t new, the urgency behind it is intensifying. The nation’s healthcare workforce remains fragile, forcing leaders to distinguish between staffing gaps that are temporary hurdles or structural limitations. Revenue projections for health systems have shifted dramatically ... Against this backdrop, Becker’s set out to understand how health system leaders across the U.S. are interpreting and enacting the mandate to “do more with less” today. From June 9 to July 15, we spoke with executives across the country, in every type of market, hospital, and health system, to hear how they are navigating this evolving landscape. ...Editor's Note: Scan through these with a sharp eye toward improving the quality of patient care while "doing more with less." I applaud many of these leaders for not just focusing on cutting costs, but for using these crucial changes as a vehicle to improve patient care.

A look at nursing facility characteristics between 2015 and 2024 - KFF KFF; by Priya Chidambaram and Alice Burns; 12/6/24 In a KFF Issue Brief on nursing facility characteristics over time, KFF has described nursing homes and the people living in them. Data is pulled from Care Compare (Nursing Homes) and CASPER (Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports). Data includes the number of certified nursing facilities, hours of care by nurse staff type over years, survey deficiencies in nursing homes, and the share of residents by primary payer. The study confirms that Medicaid is the primary payer for 63% of nursing facility residents in 2024, followed by 24% for private and other payers, and 13% by Medicare. As reported by KFF,  “KFF polling shows that four in ten adults overall incorrectly believe that Medicare is the primary source of insurance coverage for low-income people who need nursing facility care.” Guest Editor's Note, Judi Lund Person: As we think about the impact of Medicaid cuts on nursing home residents, it is important to note that Medicaid is the primary payer for 63% of nursing home residents as of 2024. In some states, that percentage may be higher. See the KFF article.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ~ Unknown

How PACE is jockeying for position amid Medicaid cuts Modern Healthcare; by Diane Eastabrook; 7/16/25 A federal-state program aimed at keeping older adults out of nursing homes could come out awinner under the new federal tax law. Nevada was the latest state to approve a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly last month before President Donald Trump signed the tax law. South Dakota is considering PACE as well. The program can save states money by caring for adults at home, rather than in nursing homes. However, PACE is a relatively small and not widely known initiative, which could make it a low priority for states weighing the best way to spend fewer Medicaid dollars.

Online reputation management crucial for hospices, home-based care providers Hospice News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 7/18/25 Hospice and home-based care providers cannot put online reputation management on the back burner. That’s a key takeaway from a recent report from Transcend Strategy Group. While all businesses should be concerned about maintaining a good online reputation, this is especially important for home-based hospice care providers due to their unique care delivery setting, according to Tony Kudner, chief strategy officer at Transcend. A hospice provider’s digital presence can give patients and their families greater insight when it comes to the quality and depth of their services, Kudner said. “When you are dealing with the intimacy of someone coming into your home, the personalization and how you feel about the agency that you open the door for matters more,” Kudner told Hospice News.

Essentia nurses and healthcare workers turned away from bargaining by employer on second day of ULP strike, acute care nurses announce tentative agreement vote results Minnesota Nurses Association, Duluth, MN; Press Release; 7/9/25 On the second day of the ongoing unfair labor practice strike in Duluth and Superior, nurses and healthcare professionals across all six Essentia Health bargaining units arrived at negotiations prepared to make progress — only to be met with rejection and dismissal. ... No meaningful negotiations took place and no progress was made towards resolving the unfair labor practices. Despite Essentia Health’s reliance on costly travel nurses and its abrupt closure of essential facilities like the Solvay Hospice House, frontline healthcare workers have consistently proposed clear pathways to resolution. Today alone, negotiating team members offered to consolidate and expedite bargaining across all six contracts and offered 22 additional negotiation dates in July — both of which Essentia flatly refused.

New Winship web tool helps Georgians find palliative care services Emory University Winship Cancer Institute; Press Release; 7/7/25 Patients, families and referring physicians now have a new online source for locating palliative care services in Georgia. Developed by Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, More Access to Palliative Care Georgia (MAPGA) is a searchable database of vetted inpatient and outpatient palliative care agencies and hospital-based programs across the state. ... Users who visit MAPGA can view a list and interactive map of nearby palliative care services, including hospital-based outpatient clinics and home-based care. For more customized results, they can enter their zip code or filter by location (clinic, in-home or hospital-based/inpatient) and type (adult or pediatric). MAPGA also features a “heat map” that highlights gaps in access to care.