Literature Review

How Caledonia is using a community festival to redefine end-of-life planning McKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 9/7/26 A first-of-its-kind festival aims to bring “deathcare” back into the fabric of community life by reducing fears and stress tied to the end of life. Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care in North Riverside, IL,  is partnering with Wally’s Hearth, a Chicago nonprofit working to establish the state’s first social model hospice home, to host Telling the Bees Fest: A Chicagoland Deathcare Education & Resource Festival. The festival is designed to foster “honest, compassionate conversations about death, caregiving, planning, grief, remembrance and what it means to care for one another through the full human experience,” according to organizers.

When lung cancer spreads to the liver: what to expect Everyday Health; by Ashley Welch, medically reviewed by Tingting Tan, MD, PhD; 9/8/26 Liver metastasis from lung cancer occurs when cancer cells from the tumor in the lung travel to the liver. Also known as stage 4, it’s the most advanced stage of lung cancer. ...

A growing Bay County deserves more choices in compassionate care | guest column Panama City News Herald, Panama City, FL; by Julie Head; 9/6/26 Bay County’s remarkable growth has brought new neighborhoods, businesses and opportunities. But as our population grows and ages, more families will face serious illness, care for aging parents and make difficult health care decisions. A community’s strength is measured not only by how it welcomes new residents, but also by how it supports people during life’s most vulnerable moments. That's why conversations about hospice, and access to it, matter. ... For nearly 45 years, Big Bend Hospice has served North Florida from its roots in Tallahassee as a community-based nonprofit. We expanded into Bay County because we saw a growing need for nonprofit hospice care. Before opening our doors, we spent months listening. ...

Hospice has ‘strong’ 2026 M&A outlook Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/4/26 Hospice merger and acquisition volume has regained momentum and is rapidly approaching pre-pandemic levels. For hospice, 48 deals took place in 2019, according to the M&A advisory firm The Braff Group. This was followed by the record-breaking years of 2020 through 2022, in which nearly 70 hospice transactions completed annually. Then hospice M&A entered a lull. In 2023, only 25 deals took place. The market began to pick up steam again in the fourth quarter of 2025, and that has continued through 2026, according to Mark Kulik, senior managing director of the M&A advisory firm The Braff Group.

LeadingAge, coalition partners tell CMS: don’t punish good Medicare providers LeadingAge, Washington, DC; contact Colleen Knudsen; 8/31/26 In a joint sign-on letter led by LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit and mission-driven providers of aging services and submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today, a coalition of 19 partners representing hospitals, physician and clinician practices, post-acute and long-term care providers, home health and hospice agencies, suppliers, and the beneficiaries served by all, warn the agency that the proposed changes to Medicare provider enrollment provisions, included in the Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Home Health Prospective Payment System (PPS) Rule, risk penalizing legitimate providers and could result in limiting beneficiary access to care. The coalition fundamentally supports CMS’ responsibility to protect the Medicare Trust Fund and beneficiaries from fraud, waste, and abuse. However, ...

Hospice care has increased in Minnesota, but some nurses are set to strike MINNPOST; by Maddie Robinson; 9/4/26 Allina Health hospice nurses are demanding better pay and more manageable caseloads as demand for care has grown statewide. After more than a year of contract negotiations and on the heels of a one-day strike in early July, Allina Health hospice nurses are set to strike for one week starting September 11 after union members said the hospital did not adequately address employee concerns about raises, staffing and caseloads. More than 60 Allina nurses in the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa union voted unanimously to authorize the strike August 21. After additional contract negotiations with a federal mediator a week later did not pan out for either party, the union announced on August 31 their 10-day notice to strike, during which time contract negotiations will continue. 

Dolly Parton’s 10 leadership lessons for business executives Forbes; by Edward Segal; 8/27/26 Dolly Parton, who [recently died] at age 80, demonstrated her expertise in managing and communicating about a crisis. She also leaves behind several leadership lessons for business executives. ...

Caregiver's relationship with grandmother goes viral Today Show; by Morgan Chesky; 9/7/26 Twenty-four-year-old Grace Yockey and her grandmother Vava, have gone viral online for their adorable adventures together as roommates, all while shining a powerful light on young caregivers. NBC’s Morgan Chesky reports for TODAY.

The hospice moratorium: what CMS is really signaling about the future | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Dr. Jennifer Kennedy; 9/2/26 In Part One of this timely conversation, host Chris Comeaux and co-host Cordt Kassner,  sit down with Dr. Jennifer Kennedy, Vice President for Quality, Standards and Compliance at CHAP, to unpack what the CMS hospice moratorium means, why it was implemented, and what hospice leaders should be watching next.  Jennifer explains how escalating concerns around fraud and abuse, rapid market expansion, transactional hospice models, accreditation oversight, and Medicare enrollment have created an unprecedented regulatory environment.  She also shares why she believes the moratorium could be extended as CMS continues strengthening enrollment screening and program-integrity efforts.

I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel. ~  Florence Nightingale

Hospice of Southern West Virginia is offering free Hospice Aide training for qualified applicants sABC-4 WOAY, Beckley, WV; by Brandy Lawrence; 8/26/26 

Thank a nurse 2026: reader submitted letters Portland Press Herald, Portland, ME; by various readers of the Portland Press Herald; 5/8/26

Restaurant owner shelves Easter plans to fulfill dying man's last wish to feed his hospice nurses Daily Good; by Good News Network; 4/7/26