Literature Review

Saturday newsletters focus on headlines and research - enjoy!

Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people. ~George Washington

Behind the scenes of AI-powered bereavement care Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 7/21/26 Technology companies are exploring new ways of using artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen bereavement support, but these evolutions have garnered concerns related to the ethical and emotional impacts. A few different types of AI platforms have developed in recent years that include services designed to allow families to access video or audio clips, photos and letters from a deceased loved one. Some AI technologies use these details to create a digital replica of the person for interaction. “First-person consent, given with capacity and ideally well before the end of life, is the only sound basis for AI,” Healy told Hospice News. “The ‘family agreed’ is not a substitute for the individual’s own consent to be reproduced. The ‘deepfake-style’ AI asset that could be used to impersonate someone. Editor's Note: The use of AI to develop ongoing impersonisations of the deceased person raises extreme ethical breaches and clinical concerns. 

Sterling Hospice home to close, expected to reopen under new ownership KWQC-6, Sterling, IL; by KWQC Staff; 7/22/26 The Rock River Hospice & Home is closing Aug.1, officials announced Wednesday. The organization, which has been serving people throughout the Sauk Valley area for over 40 years, is closing due to longstanding financial challenges, officials said in a media release. “Changes in healthcare reimbursement, increasing operating costs, and other economic pressures have made it increasingly difficult for standalone hospice providers to remain financially sustainable,” officials said. However, officials said care will continue to be available in the community. 

Only one in five U.S. young adults with advanced cancer receive palliative care as part of treatment, study shows American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA; Press Release; 7/23/26 Young adults with advanced cancer face unique challenges that make palliative care especially important. This population often experiences physical, emotional, and social needs while undergoing treatment, related to their developmental and life-stage transitions. However, a new study by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) reveals that despite a small increase in use over time, only 18.3% of young adults in the United States with advanced cancer received palliative care as part of treatment in 2023. The study is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open. 

700 rural hospitals at risk of closing, by state Becker's Hospital Review; by Madeline Scheetz; 7/22/26 Seven hundred rural hospitals across the U.S., or about one-third of all rural facilities in the country, are at risk of closing due to severe financial challenges, according to a July 21 Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform analysis. The analysis comprises 264 hospitals that are at immediate risk of closure, according to the report. In almost every state, rural hospitals are at risk of closure. In most states, more than 25% of rural hospitals are at risk and in 11 states, 50% or more are at risk. ... More than 100 rural U.S. hospitals have closed in the past decade, with 110 closing since 2015, according to the report. Fifty-three hospitals have ended inpatient services since the beginning of 2023 to qualify for federal grants only available to rural emergency hospitals.

New $11.8M federal grant will launch Dartmouth Health’s aging research center Valley News, New Hampshire Public Radio; by Olivia Richardson; 7/23/26 Dartmouth Health has received nearly $12 million to create a program to study the needs of people aging with serious illnesses. The $11.8 million federal grant comes from the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence program, through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The program helps states that have historically received less National Institutes of Health funding to expand their research capacity. Close to $3 million has been included in the award to help fund Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine’s participation in the program. Dartmouth Health has named its aging study program the Center for Aging with Serious Illness. The grant will allow the center to collaborate with other research institutions, support early-career clinician-scientists, and broaden the Dartmouth Health research community focusing on older adults with serious illness.

Executive Personnel Changes - 7/24/26

Man donates van to hospice which cared for wife BBC News, Shropshire, England; by Andy Martindale and Chloe Hughes; 7/22/26 |A man whose wife was given end-of-life care by a hospice has donated a van to them as he said they "were there for us when we needed them most". Severn Hospice cares for patients from Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid-Wales, and the van will be used by its retail operation and maintenance teams which support its 31 charity shops. ... The van, grey with flashes of yellow and blue from the hospice's logo, also bears Barbara's name. "I know she'd [Barbara] love the idea - we used to love going to the charity shop in Oswestry, and I'm sure she'd be pleased to see her name travelling around Shropshire, hopefully doing a bit of good for the hospice."

Nevada hospice industry under scrutiny as families navigate quality care gaps KTNV-13 ABC, Las Vegas, NV; by Abel Garcia; 7/21/26 ... As I've continued to look into hospice care and concerns in Southern Nevada, one issue kept coming up: How do you navigate those decisions? To get a better idea, I spoke to a local family about their experience with hospice care: Mikiya Davis found herself navigating hospice care for the first time when her mother, Deborah Johnson, suffered a stroke, and Davis moved her from California to Las Vegas to care for her, herself. Davis says she eventually realized how much the quality of care, staffing, and support can vary depending on the provider. "I didn't know my rights. It was my first time on hospice, and If you don't know, you just don't know," she said. Without naming the hospices involved, Davis tells me she saw major differences between the provider she started with and the one she transferred to after just a few weeks. ...

Healthcare trends & transactions Q2 2026 Mondaq; by Bass, Berry & Sims; 7/22/26 Healthcare M&A activity maintained steady momentum through Q2 2026, driven by physician practice consolidation, AI-enabled technology acquisitions, and strategic outpatient expansion. Private equity investment persisted despite intensifying regulatory scrutiny of MSO arrangements, while digital health buyers paid significant premiums for platforms demonstrating production-grade AI capabilities and proprietary data assets.

Medical aid in dying law would force Long Island Catholic nuns, ministries to 'abandon' their beliefs, Federal suit claimsNewsday; by Robert Brodsky; 7/21/26 A new [New York] state law that would allow life-ending medication to be made available to some terminally ill residents will force Catholic nuns and ministries, including several from Long Island, to "abandon their religious beliefs" or face fines, according to a federal lawsuit seeking to force changes to the law before it goes into effect next month. On Friday, four orders of Catholic nuns, including the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, which operates St. Joseph's Home for the Aged, an assisted living facility in Huntington, were joined by the Rockville Centre Diocese and the Catholic Health System of Long Island in filing the suit in New York's Northern District. 

In Memoriam: June L. Dahl, PhDJournal of Palliative Medicine; by David E. Weissman, MD; 7/17/26The roots to improve care for the seriously ill in the United States include the passage of the Medicare Hospice Benefit in 1982, the pioneering work of Balfour Mount, Derek Doyle, Josefina Magno, and the work of the Academy of Hospice Physicians. A lessor-known but significant contributor to early palliative care development was the Cancer Pain Initiative movement, founded and led by June Dahl, PhD, who passed away in June 2026 at age 95.