Mālama Ola earns top national honor for veteran hospice care
Maui News; 6/18/25
Mālama Ola Health Services, based on Oʻahu, has become the first hospice and palliative care organization in the state of Hawai‘i to earn Level 5 status from We Honor Veterans, the highest recognition awarded by the national program for veteran-centered end-of-life care. The designation places Mālama Ola among just 233 organizations—about 7% of over 3,300 participating nationwide—that have achieved Level 5. Only 41 of those also provide both hospice and palliative care services.

How palliative care can differentiate hospices in the marketplace
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 6/18/25
Potential referral partners and investors often see palliative care as a value-add for a hospice, home health agency or other provider. Palliative programs are difficult to manage as a standalone business due to the lack of a robust reimbursement model. Most palliative care programs are reimbursed through fee-for-service Medicare, which only covers physician or nurse practitioner services and does not include the full range of interdisciplinary care. Some palliative care is also paid for through Medicare Advantage plans and Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), where care and payment models often vary. But in many cases, providers see those services as a loss leader or as a “feeder” for their hospice programs, Eugene Goldenberg, managing partner from the investment bank Edgemont Partners, said at the Hospice News Elevate conference in Orlando, Florida.

Post-acute clinicians to CMS: Providers need better tech infrastructure for value-based care
Home Health Care News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 6/20/25
The Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (PALTmed) recently penned a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) advocating for the advancement and adoption of interoperable health information technology (health IT). PALTmed explained that the health care providers — especially post-acute and long-term care settings — are dealing with a worsening clinician shortage. It’s a pain point that greater access to health IT could help solve, according to the organization.

[St. Catharines, Canada] Niagara woman gives back to Hospice Niagara
NOTLLocal.com; Niagara-on-the-Lake local staff; 6/17/25
Angie Roberts' father spent the final days of his life at Hospice Niagara, after months of being cared for by his family at home. What started with murals on the walls of her own home led Angie Roberts to a new project: a floral mural in the supportive counsellor’s office at Hospice Niagara. When Angie Roberts lost her father, Harold Griffith, to lymphoma, she found comfort and healing in something unexpected: a paintbrush... “Going to hospice was a huge relief for us. It was a gift,” she said. “It was really a wonderful gift that hospice was able to give to our family.” Angie wanted to give back for the care her dad received, while creating a warm and welcoming space for other families in their time of need. The mural features colourful flowers inspired by the fresh bouquets placed in every residence room, including her dad’s favourite — a yellow carnation— and patterned leaves drawn from the quilts that cover every bed.

[New Brunswick, Canada] Brothers who gave $50K for palliative care room at nursing home learn tough lesson
CBC News; by Hannah Rudderham; 6/20/25
Von Weiler family's gift in dad's memory taken apart and moved without notice... Brothers Alan and Glenn von Weiler of Saint John say they'll be more careful about future donations and ask more questions. The moment brothers Alan and Glenn von Weiler saw the palliative care room at their father's former nursing home — created in his memory — was one for the books, they say. "I think my dad would have been so happy," Glenn said. "My dad believed in giving back to the community. He did that all his life, and now he was able to do it posthumously." But just over a year after they saw the new palliative care room at the Fundy Nursing Home in Blacks Harbour, the brothers have a sour taste in their mouths. They learned from staff at the home that the room has been taken apart.
Publisher's note: While this story occurred in Canada, it's an important reminder to honor donor wishes.

Landmark 20-year study reshapes understanding of PTSD
Medscape; by Alicia Ault; 6/12/25
A large 20-year study — the longest and most detailed of its kind — shows that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms can endure for decades, challenging conventional timelines for recovery and offering new insights to guide future treatment.

Leading PBMs face increasing scrutiny from states
Healthcare Brew; by Nicole Ortiz; 6/18/25
Iowa is the latest to impose limits on how PBMs can operate in the state... It all started when Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law on April 16 saying any company that owns a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) would be prohibited from also owning or operating pharmacies in the state. That’s seemingly bad news for the Big 3 PBMs—Cigna Group’s Express Scripts, CVS’s Caremark, and UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx, which collectively control nearly 80% of the market—seeing as they all also operate pharmacy chains. Now the state of Iowa wants to get in on the action, with Governor Kim Reynolds signing a law on June 11 to change how PBMs operate in the state.

There’s a workplace leadership crisis. Here’s how to solve it
Forbes; by William Arruda; 6/22/25
We’re living in a very different world. Just since Covid, many of the norms of business have evolved, making the workplace almost unrecognizable. AI is taking over (or at least it feels that way). There are more different generations working side-by-side, each with their own needs, expectations, and styles. Hybrid and remote work are making life more manageable for some, while at the same time reducing the sense of connection and belonging that many of us get from work. And we haven’t even touched on the geopolitical events that are impacting virtually every industry and role. All of these changes are having a major impact on leadership. [Key points include:]

• Leadership is in crisis
• The antidote to stress, distrust, uncertainty, and loneliness is authentic leadership
• Enhance your authentic leadership skills
• Focus on social skills in leadership development
• Build authentic leadership modules into learning experiences
• Help employees design their own training paths
• Deliver programs to make tech-heavy activities easier to master
• Build leadership programs for teams to engage together
• The new world of work requires a new style of leadership – authentic leadership

Whistleblowers receive $1.5 million for exposing alleged hospice kickback scheme
Whistleblower Network News; by Geoff Schweller; 6/18/25
On June 11, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia announced that Creative Hospice Care, Inc., and affiliated companies paid $9.2 million to settle whistleblower allegations that the entities violated the False Claims Act by entering into kickback arrangements with medical directors in exchange for referrals of hospice patients to Creative Hospice.

My one wild and precious life—The purpose of medical care
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Abinav K. Jyotis; 7/25
“My One Wild and Precious Life - The Purpose of Medical Care”, contains reflections of a medical student as a naive little boy, inspired by his late grandfather, pinning to becoming a physician, who later struggles to find purpose in the unidealistic world of the current healthcare system. But, through his exposure to “Pallium India”, a non-profit palliative care organization in Kerala, India, healthcare once more gains meaning and signifies the importance of love and care amidst a patient's journey through pain and suffering.

Death equals one
JAMA Network - Poetry and Medicine; by Fanny Rancière; 6/25
...The epidemiologist’s fingers dance across the keyboard, her eyes fixed on you. “No one has ever been so fascinated by my life,” you might have thought...

A pregnant brain-dead woman in Georgia was kept on life support. Experts say it raises ethical, legal questions
ABC News; by Mary Kekatos; 6/19/25
Adriana Smith, a brain-dead woman in Georgia, was kept on life support until her fetus was viable. Experts say it raises ethical and legal questions. Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old Georgia nurse and mother, was just eight weeks pregnant when she was declared brain dead in February after suffering a medical condition. However, the family claims the hospital told them legally she had to be kept on life support to allow the fetus to grow. The family claims doctors told them they were not legally allowed to consider other options, according to local Atlanta station 11Alive. Last week, Smith's baby was born by emergency Caesarean section, weighing under 2 pounds and needing care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), reported 11Alive.
Publisher's note: This situation raises numerous ethical end-of-life questions - highlighting the importance of hospices having or connecting with local ethics experts.

How do I adapt my leadership as my company grows?
Harvard Business Review podcast; by Muriel Wilkins; 6/16/25
She’s an entrepreneur who has led her company to a fair amount of success. After recently hitting a roadblock, she’s hired new talent and is looking to position her company for continued growth. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches her through how to adjust her leadership to keep pace with her growing business.

What you should know about radiation oncology: Anish Butala, Emily Martin and Evie Kalmar
GeriPal podcast; by Eric Widera, Alex Smith, Anish Butala, Emily Martin, Evie Kalmar; 6/12/25
We’ve invited Anish Butala, the Chief of the Palliative Radiotherapy Service at Penn Medicine, and Emily Martin, a palliative care doctor and past president of the Society for Palliative Radiation Oncology (SPRO), to explain everything we should know about radiation oncology. Additionally, Evie Kalmar, who suggested today’s topic, will join us as one of our guest hosts.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. ~Albert Einstein