Literature Review

Support group helps navigate loss in a fast-food culture The Denver Gazette, Denver, CO; by Katie Soenke, 10/19/26 ... You experience a loss. You take a few days off work. You are expected to heal and move on. ... Across the region, people navigating loss are encountering a cultural expectation of quick recovery that forces them to hide their pain. The result is deep isolation and exhaustion for those left behind, along with growing concern among grief counselors who say our society’s avoidance of loss is making the healing process much harder. “Grief is so incredibly isolating,” said Sarah Lee, a bereavement counselor with Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care. “And this is rooted in our culture’s avoidance, denial and discomfort.” Editor's Note: This "fast-food culture" metaphor for how we treat grief is profound. Right on target. Read on. 

NY nursing home hit with $6.8M verdict in understaffing case Law360; by Gianna Ferrarin; 10/16/26A New York state jury reached a $6.8 million verdict against a nursing home accused of understaffing its approximately 62-bed facility and causing severe patient neglect, counsel for a certified class. [Access to the full article requires a free trial or paid subscription.]

The #1 thing to never say to someone when their pet passes away, according to experts The Telegraph, Macon, GA; by Aleksandar Mishkov; 10/18/26 Most people who say the wrong thing after a pet dies are truly trying to help and offer their support. They may try to find a phrase to use that sounds comforting—like maybe something they said that worked when a distant relative passed or when a coworker lost a parent—but instead, it may actually make someone who has lost a pet feel worse without the person realizing they’ve made the grieving person feel that way. ... "At least."  Whenever you say “at least” as in “at least they lived a long life,” “at least they’re not suffering anymore” or “at least you have other pets,” you are not being as comforting as you think you’re being.Editor's Note: For many of us, our first experiences of death and grief are when a family pet dies. This can transfer directly to our language and beliefs about people. Reflect back to the death of a beloved pet in your life. At that painful time, how were you supported best? Worst? What connections do you see in your communications about loss and grief?

What hospice owners get wrong about valuation right now Healthcare Business Today; by Cory Mertz; 10/18/26 One of the first questions hospice owners ask when they start thinking about a sale is what businesses like theirs are trading for. It is a reasonable question, but it is also where a lot of owners get valuation wrong. A multiple is not a valuation. It’s a starting point. That distinction matters in hospice because there may be more variability in valuation here than in almost any other healthcare services segment we work in. Two hospices can have similar revenue and EBITDA and still command very different outcomes depending on the risks a buyer sees behind those numbers.

Alzheimer's Association launches national initiative to bring advances in brain health and dementia care into everyday clinical care Alzheimer's Association, Chicago, IL; Press Release; 10/6/26 The Alzheimer's Association today announced the launch of the Brain Health & Quality Care Initiative (BHQCI), a new national quality-care initiative designed to help clinicians and health systems integrate brain health and high-quality dementia care into everyday clinical practice. Rapid scientific advances, including blood-based diagnostic testing and disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer's disease, are creating new opportunities for earlier detection, diagnosis and treatment. At the same time, significant gaps in care remain. ... Closing these gaps requires health care organizations to put evidence-based approaches into practice and build them into everyday care delivery.

Aspirus Health to close Woodruff hospice care facilityWJFW [NBC12, WI]; 10/15/26Aspirus Health is closing a Woodruff hospice care facility. In an email to WJFW, Aspirus said "based on the changing needs of the Northwoods community,, Aspirus Health will sunset hospice care at Seasons of Life Hospice House in Woodruff and transition hospice care to homes, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and other appropriate community settings." The Seasons of Life Hospice House was an eight-bed hospice house but it will be transitioning to hospice care to homes and nursing homes and shuttering the Woodruff location. A closing date has not been finalized yet. [The Aspirus Health press release is: Seasons of Life hospice care transitioning to home and community settings: Change will preserve compassionate hospice services while extending support across the Northwoods.]

Study finds dementia influences decisions about life-sustaining treatment, even when advance directives request itCU Anschutz newsletter; by Kelsea Pieters; 10/7/26A new CU Anschutz study found that dementia status can influence end-of-life treatment decisions, even when a patient’s advance directive requests life-sustaining care. The findings highlight the importance of ongoing conversations about end-of-life wishes and choosing a surrogate who understands and will honor those preferences. People were about 19 percentage points less likely to recommend life-sustaining treatment for a seriously ill patient with dementia than for a patient without dementia, even when an advance directive requested life-sustaining care, according to new research from the University of Colorado Anschutz. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, surveyed nearly 6,000 U.S. adults to examine how a patient’s dementia status, advance directive, physician recommendations and a surrogate decision-maker’s own preferences influenced recommendations about end-of-life care.Publisher's note: Bold and italics mine - this is a striking finding!

Collaboration between oncology and palliative care key to high-quality careCancer Therapy Advisor; by Jennifer Larson; 10/16/26High-performing oncology programs that foster mutual trust and real-time communication between oncology and palliative care teams achieve greater quality of care, better patient outcomes, and more timely hospice transitions.To ensure patients with cancer receive high-quality care, oncology programs may need to take a close look at strategies for improving the relationship between their team and the palliative care team, according to the results of a study recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine [Effective palliative care for hospice transitions, 9/26].

Home-based medical care users more likely to enroll in hospice, study findsMcKnights Long-Term Care News; by Suzy Frisch; 10/16/26Home-based medical care (HBMC) — longitudinal medical care provided in a patient’s home, led by physicians or advanced practice providers — has demonstrated its value reducing hospital admissions, emergency department visits and hospital length of stays. Now, according to a new study, it plays a role in hospice uptake and reducing extremes in hospice stays. A new study in Health Affairs Scholar, “Closing the Hospice Gap: The Value of Home-Based Medical Care,” found that HBMC users had greater odds of enrolling in hospice compared to nonusers. HBMC patients enrolled in hospice also experienced fewer ultra-short hospice stays of less than three days and prolonged stays of more than 180 days. These findings could open doors for HBMC to play a wider role in connecting people with hospice services.

‘A scalpel and not a shotgun’: Home care offers views on better fraud enforcementMcKnights Home Care; by Liza Berger; 10/15/26The crackdown on Medicare home care fraud escalated in May when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services imposed its first-ever nationwide moratorium on new hospice and home health provider enrollments. While the home care advocacy community, which includes associations that represent for-profit and nonprofit providers, expressed various opinions of the six-month regulation, it agrees that the moratorium should end at its scheduled time in November. There also is consensus on a better long-term strategy for fighting fraud: targeted, risk-based enforcement... “I think that as we sort of look at this for the long haul, we’ve got to create an approach that allows for sustainability — sustainability at addressing the fraud and abuse issues,” said Tom Koutsoumpas, CEO of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), which represents about 140 not-for-profit community-based programs throughout the country, in a recent McKnight’s Home Care podcast... In speaking during a quarterly “state of home care” webinar hosted by the Polsinelli law firm in September, Jennifer Sheets, CEO of the Alliance, may have said it best: “We need a scalpel and not a shotgun. And I feel like we’re under the shotgun right now.”

Announcing JAMA AI - A new journal from the JAMA NetworkJAMA Network; by Roy H. Perlis, Annette Flanagin, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo; 10/15/26We are pleased to announce that JAMA AI, the 14th journal in the JAMA Network, will launch in early 2027. JAMA AI will address the full spectrum of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, from foundational advances to real-world clinical implications. We will strive to publish clinical research that involves not only AI, but the full range of computational tools as they are applied to improve human health. Beyond AI, the journal will publish impactful studies that incorporate mobile apps, wearable sensors, physiologic monitors, digital imaging and pathology, virtual reality, and all the analytic and implementation methods necessary to apply these technologies in medicine and health care. We will also publish studies that capture the effects of technology on health more broadly, including AI and social media.

‘Byzantine ownership arrangements’: Calls to scrutinize coding and profit incentives in nursing home Medicare paymentsSkilled Nursing News; by Zahida Siddiqi; 10/9/26Policy analysts at the nonpartisan agency that advises Congress on Medicare policy are planning to investigate potential coding distortions, payment inaccuracies and whether financial incentives influence patient selection by nursing home providers as part of an assessment of payment accuracy in fee-for-service Medicare’s skilled nursing facility and home health payment systems. At its October meeting Friday, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) discussed a research work plan, with commissioners calling attention to for-profit providers seeking to game the system, with a rising role of hidden private equity influence. [MedPAC presentation slides here.]Publisher's note: Bold and italics above are ours; if MedPAC is looking at this in SNF and HHA, hospice is likely not too far behind...