Official statement from NPHI on recent hospice fraud media coverage and ongoing federal enforcement efforts 
National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI); Press Release; 3/20/26 
... NPHI is actively engaged with federal leaders to advance targeted solutions that root out bad actors while safeguarding the integrity of the hospice benefit. It is important to underscore that these issues are not representative of the majority of hospice providers, who are focused every day on delivering high-quality, compassionate care to patients and families.
Official Statement by Tom Koutsoumpas, Founder & CEO of NPHI: "... It’s important to be clear — this is not a failure of the hospice model of care. It is the result of a subset of providers exploiting the healthcare system, and that must stop. ..."
Carole Fisher, President of NPHI, added: "At its core, hospice care is about trust — trust from patients and families during some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives. That’s why NPHI is committed to supporting decisive action to address bad actors, while continuing to uphold and protect the high standards that define this field.”

Ohio’s Hospice fundraiser in Malvern raises more than $42,000 
Your Ohio News; by Kyle Valentini; 3/22/26 
The Carroll County community came together March 21 to raise funds for nonprofit hospice care during Ohio’s Hospice Spring Spectacular Treasures of Time at Good Shepherd Hall in Malvern. According to Ohio’s Hospice, more than 175 attendees took part in the event, supporting celebrity servers while helping raise $42,175. 

15 hospices incorporated in a single day, in a single suite in Van Nuys 
Daily Breeze; by Jason Henry; 3/22/26 
A group operating out of a Friar Street office building in Van Nuys that advertises “virtual offices” incorporated 22 hospices and home care agencies in one year, including 15 hospices registered in one day to a single suite, according to an investigation by the Southern California News Group. The 15 hospices, all formed in “Suite 205” at 14545 Friar St., later collected $12.3 million from Medicare and Medi-Cal billings in 2023 and 2024, records showed. ... While operating out of the same building is permitted, hospices cannot use the same office, according to Sheila Clark, the president and CEO of California Hospice and Palliative Care. ... She’s been sounding the alarm about fraud risks in Los Angeles’ hospice industry for years now. ...However, these hospices seemingly bypassed that limitation by appending letters from “A” to “P” onto the suite number in official documentation.

What we get wrong about comfort at the end of life: Jennifer Martnick 
Cleveland.com, Cleveland, OH; by guest columnist Jennifer Martnick; 3/22/26 
When people hear the word comfort in the context of serious illness or the end of life, they often picture something passive. A quiet room. Soft blankets. And a sense that medical care has somehow stepped back. That misunderstanding is one of the most persistent myths in health care. Comfort care is not about doing less. In many ways, it requires more skill, more attention and more presence than almost any other kind of medicine. At Reserve Care (formerly Hospice of the Western Reserve), comfort care means active, expert care delivered by clinicians trained to manage pain, ease symptoms and support the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and families facing serious illness.

Facing loss & cancer: A daughter’s dual grief  
Time.News; by Ethan Brooks; 3/22/26 
... We hadn’t told the kids yet. There was nothing definitive to say, only a growing dread. I braced myself to project a semblance of cheerfulness when Molly and Henry returned from their tournament, but it proved unnecessary. My sister called with news that eclipsed everything: our father was dying. Both our parents, long divorced, were in hospice, on opposite coasts. My mother’s decline had begun in June, but my father’s was swift, a mere week in the making and we hadn’t anticipated him going first.

Study: Families pleased after meeting nursing home advance care planning specialist 
McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Foster Stubbs; 3/10/26 
Overall, family caregivers who met with advance care planning (ACP) specialists reported positive experiences in a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. The study enrolled 28 family caregivers of nursing home residents with dementia who had engaged in an ACP discussion with the ACP specialist in the prior three-month period. ... [Authors said,] “Their reports of needs and challenges reinforce the importance of ACP training programs like the ACP Specialist that promote routine conversations in the NH to support family decision makers for persons living with dementia.”

When words fail, so does care: Why healthcare translation services matter 
Leesville Leaders; by JR Language; 3/19/26 
... Language services in health care mean more than having an interpreter in the room. When we talk about language access in healthcare, we’re referring to two distinct yet equally essential services: medical interpretation and healthcare document translation. Both matter. Neither is optional.

• Medical Interpretation Services ...
• Medical Document Translations ...
• Healthcare Language Access Best Practices ...
• Why “Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough ...
• What’s Needed: Specialised Skills and Understanding ...
• Building Language Access Into Your Practice ...

The Pennant Group highlights acquisition momentum, conservative guidance at Oppenheimer Healthcare chat 
MarketBeat; by MarketBeat; 3/21/26 
[The Pennant Group's] Chief Financial Officer Lynette Walbom said the company’s guidance includes conservatism, largely tied to the scale and complexity of the UnitedHealth Group/Amedisys transaction. ... She said the company expects an annualized EBITDA margin around 16% for the Home Health and Hospice segment. For Senior Living, she said the company expects margin expansion through the year, leading to an annualized margin around 11%.

VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region Vermont celebrates 80 years 
Bennington Banner, Bennington, VT; by Mark Rondeau; 3/22/26 
[Historic photo shows workers with the Rutland Area Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice, a predecessor to VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region, in the 1970s.] VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region, founded in 1946, is celebrating 80 years of service to the community and compassionate care. “Our agency is celebrating 80 years of providing home health services in the community this year,” VNAHSR said in a statement. “We started as just a small group of community members that gathered to create an organization that would provide skilled nursing in the home with a mission to promote health and independence.
Editor's Note: Timeline shows this VNA's beginnings as a "Certified Home Health Agency" to merging with Rutland Area Hospice in 1996, and more.

50 years ago, Karen Quinlan’s coma sparked the movement for patients’ rights near the end of life 
The Conversation; by Kalpana Jain; 3/23/26 
March 31, 2026, marks 50 years since a landmark decision that shapes American patients’ rights every day: the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, who had suffered an irreversible coma. Quinlan’s case established for the first time that decisions near the end of life should be made by patients and families, not by doctors and hospitals alone. As a bioethicist, I have taught and written extensively about the profound impact the Quinlan case has had on law, bioethics and the pursuit of death with dignity. A decade after the Quinlan case, New Jersey created a Bioethics Commission to study advancing health care technology in light of the decision’s principles. The commission’s proposed legislation establishing advance directives was enacted on July 11, 1991. I was privileged to lead this project, as staff to the commission. Today, all 50 states have advance directive laws that allow competent adults to plan ahead and put their wishes for end-of-life care in writing.

[United Kingdom] Hundreds run in memory of mum and 'dearest friend' 
BBC News, Yorkshire, United Kingdom; by Fiona Callow and Heidi Tomlinson; 3/22/26 
More than 200 family and friends of a woman who died of cancer last month have run a 10k in her memory.Debbie Holland, 47, spent her final days being cared for at Wakefield Hospice, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. A fundraising page, set up to sponsor the runners, has almost raised more than 10 times its original target of £3,000. Debbie's husband Andrew said: "We always felt we wanted to pay back. The staff in Wakefield Hospice are amazing."

Do not wait for someone else to come and speak for you. It’s you who can change the world. ~ Malala Yousafzai
Celebrating Women's History Month, visit the National Women's History Museum for many inspiring biographies. Use its "Browse" search engines for "Topics," "Era" (since the 1500's), and "Location."