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What hospice leaders need to know about H.R.7148 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress | signed by the President, 2/3/26
Congress.gov; content below gleaned for hospice leaders by Judi Lund Person, Guest Editor

• Section 6207: Extension of funding for Medicare Hospice Surveys. An addition $4,400,00 included in budget, beginning January 31, 2026 and end on December 31, 2026 to remain available until expended.
• Section 6209: Extension of Certain Telehealth Flexibilities. Ending on December 31, 2027. Exceptions include if individual is located in an area subject to a moratorium, if individual is receiving hospice care from a provider subject to enhanced oversight, or encounter performed by a hospice physician or nurse practitioner who is not enrolled in PECOS or validly opted out. 
• In addition, the law now requires the hospice provider to use a modifier on the hospice claim for F2F encounters occurring on or after January 1, 2027 if the encounter was conducted via telehealth. [NOTE: CMS will develop the modifier code to be used.]
• Section 6218: Extension of Adjustment to Calculation of Hospice Cap Amount Under Medicare. The aggregate cap calculation [using the percent increase of the rate to adjust the cap] will continue to be used until 2035.

Governor Hochul signs Medical Aid in Dying Act into New York state law 
New York State - Governor Kathy Hochul, Albany, NY; Press Release; 2/6/26 
Governor Hochul today signed legislation S.138/A.136 that will allow medical aid in dying to be available to terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live. This historic bill signing comes after careful reflection and deliberation with the sponsors of the bill, advocacy organizations, and everyday New Yorkers ... The bill, as passed by the Legislature originally included a number of protections in order to ensure that no patient was coerced into choosing medical aid in dying and that no health care professional or religiously affiliated health facility would be forced to offer medical aid in dying. The Governor worked with the Legislature to include additional guardrails that will make sure people won’t be taken advantage of, while still ensuring terminally ill New Yorkers have the choice to die comfortably and on their own terms, including: [continue reading] ...

HPH Hospice unveils revamped Lecanto facility: Changes include adding PACE program later this year 
Paxton Media Group; by Nancy Kennedy; 2/7/26 
Despite the rumors, the HPH Citrus Hospice House in Lecanto did not close and is not closing. In fact, they are very much providing care for their patients and expanding services with a remodel of their Lecanto [Florida] facility. ... On Jan. 29 and 30, the HPH Hospice had an open house for community partners to unveil the changes — new flooring and paint, a reconfiguration of offices and work stations, new HVAC system, new furniture and state-of-the-art equipment. ... One of the newest additions, which is expected to start in the fall, is the Hope PACE Center. One side of the facility will be dedicated to inpatient hospice care and the other side will be the PACE program — Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.

Elara Caring secures new strategic investment from Ares and DaVita 
Elara Caring News; Press Release; 2/2/26 
Elara Caring (Elara) ... today announced that it has entered into an agreement for a strategic investment from Ares’ Private Equity Group (Ares) and DaVita. The investment is intended to expand access to personalized, clinically advanced care at home for patients with complex and acute needs. Elara will continue to operate as a wholly independent company led by CEO Ananth Mohan and the current management team. 

Measures that matter: How better metrics can transform end-of-life care | part two
Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner, with guests Bob Tavares, Robin Heffernan, and Mindy Stewart-Coffee; 2/6/26 
Top News Stories of the Month, January 2026
What gets measured shapes how patients experience the final chapter of life.  In Part Two of Measures That Matter, Hospice and healthcare leaders explore how focused, meaningful metrics—not check-the-box measures—can improve quality, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, and strengthen value-based end-of-life care. The conversation highlights a small, high-impact set of indicators that better reflect real-world Hospice performance—such as visits in the last days of life, live discharges and burdensome transitions, gaps in nursing visits, access to higher levels of care (GIP and Continuous Home Care), and patient experience, including the simple but powerful question: “Would you recommend this Hospice?”

Spreading the principles of palliative care to all corners 
Health Affairs; by Jessica Nutik Zitter; 2/2/26 
My daughter Sasha is a first-year medical student. ... Most recently, she has been envisioning herself as a palliative care physician. She tells me it may be the only specialty that will allow her to practice her values. As a long-time palliative care physician who has acted as an evangelist for the specialty, I surprised myself with a reflexive response. “I’m not sure that’s the best choice for you,” I said. ... Something needs to change—for our patients and for ourselves. ... I propose several strategies ...

• First, let’s require competence in the basic skills of medical humanism for anyone involved in the care of patients. ...
• Second, educational curricula and hospital training programs should require interprofessional education for trainees and practitioners from various disciplines. ...
• Third, I believe that every medical student should be required to rotate with a chaplain. ...

How ‘rest’ became the biggest four-letter word in healthcare
Medscape; by Eric Spitznagel; 1/30/26
As a resident at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, he did his best to get enough of it, which wasn’t often. Even when he managed a full night’s sleep, it didn’t bring the relief he expected. His body might slow down, but his mind didn’t. “My mind kept racing through patient records,” Jacobs said. “So even sitting on the couch wasn’t helping.” He was on the cusp of understanding what few healthcare workers figure out: True rest requires more than lying down. It requires something that pulls your attention out of the mental loops that medicine trains clinicians to spin 24/7. ...

• Why Genuine Rest Is so Hard in Medicine ...
• Why Time Out Is More Valuable Than Time Off ...
• Real Rest vs Fake Rest ...
• When the Environment Works Against You ...
• When Rest Becomes a Form of Resistance ...
• Rest as a Professional Skill ...

Editor's Note: Do you relate? I do. Read it. Use it. Share it.

Experiences and knowledge of family caregivers providing end of life care to older adults at home 
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Delaney E. Knutson, BSN and Barbara St Marie, PhD, AGPCNP, FAANP, FAAN; 1/28/26 
Conclusion: This scoping review highlighted the need for increased information for family caregivers regarding end-of-life care to reduce the challenges and burden for families caring for their older adult at home at end-of-life. Areas for improvement include increased support from family and friends, caregiver respite, increased education about caregiving, and improved communication between hospice programs and home caregivers. 

Forefront Living Hospice agreed to pay $1.9 million for allegedly violating the Civil Monetary Penalties Law by submitting claims for services that identified the incorrect provider or were performed by non-enrolled or incorrect providers 
HHS-OIG, U.S. Government; 1/30/26 
After it self-disclosed conduct to OIG, Forefront Living Hospice d/b/a Faith Presbyterian Hospice and d/b/a T. Bonne Pickens Hospice and Palliative Care Center (Forefront), Dallas, Texas, agreed to Pay $1,959,718.74 for allegedly violating the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. OIG alleged that Forefront billed for: (1) hospice services provided by "attending physicians" who were nurse practitioners, but billed as if they had been performed by physicians; and (2) "attending physician" services performed by an attending physician who was not the physician chosen by the patient or where the provider was not properly enrolled in Medicare.

California AG Bonta charges 7 in Monterey County over hospice fraud scheme totaling $3.2m 
KSBW 9 Action News, Monterery, CA; by Ricardo Tovar; 2/6/26 
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that arrests have been made and felony charges filed against seven people in connection with an alleged hospice fraud scheme filed in Monterey County. The total loss to Medi-Cal and Medicare is estimated to be $3,211,419.79, according to Bonta's office. The complaint alleges that the conduct occurred from approximately April 1, 2016, through June 1, 2024 — a period of roughly 8 years and 2 months.

Longmont restaurant owner hits the road to make hospital patient's wish come true 
NBC 9 News, Longmont, CO; by Colton Chavez; 2/6/26 
A Longmont restaurant owner is driving to Montana this weekend to personally deliver baked potatoes to a patient who listed visiting his establishment as one of their wishes. Eddy Ellson, owner of Big Bear Baked Potatoes, received a message through his restaurant's website from a hospice nurse in Montana asking if he could share his recipe or send food to a patient named Kristle, who wanted to visit his restaurant but was too ill to make the trip. "One of her last wishes she asked the nurse to take her to Denver because she wanted to go to Big Bear Baked Potatoes," Ellson said. Instead of sending a recipe, Ellson decided to make the journey himself. He plans to cook for Kristle, her family, and her nurses on Super Bowl Sunday, when his restaurant is normally closed.

If each day is a gift, I'd like to know where I can return the Monday after the Super Bowl.