Repost: Modern Healthcare Awards, "Best Places to Work in Healthcare 2026"
Modern Healthcare; Press Release behind a paywall; 5/11/26
Editor's Note: We are pleased to add several "Best Places to Work 2026"--as honored by Modern Healthcare--to our "Awards and Recognitions May 2026" from 6/2/26. The more complete list of hospice organizations is below. If we have inadvertently omitted an organization, please email jberger@hospicepalliativecaretoday.com.

• Ancora Compassionate Care, Reidsville, NC
  
• Avow Inc., Naples, FL
• Carolina Caring, in Newton, NC
• Chapters Health System, multi-state
• Compass Regional Hospice in Centreville, MD
• Encompass Health, Birmingham, AL
• Four Seasons, The Care You Trust, in Flat Rock, NC
• Guthrie Home Care, Sayre, PA
• Hospice Home Care, Little Rock, AR
• Nathan Adelson Hospice, in Las Vegas, NV
• Teleios Collaborative Network, in Flat Rock, NC 
• Tillery Compassionate Care, Albemarle, NC
  
• Valley Hospice, Rayland, OH
• Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of the Wabash Valley, Terre Haute, IN
• Yolo Cares, Davis, CA

Hospice Regulatory Alert June 3, 2026 - Hospice PEPPER Report released 
LundPerson & Associates Hospice Consulting; by Judi Lund Person; 6/3/26 
What is PEPPER? The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) is a Microsoft Excel file summarizing provider-specific Medicare data statistics for target areas often associated with Medicare improper payments due to billing, DRG coding, and/or admission necessity issues. ... 
Three years of data: PEPPER can be used to review three years of data statistics for each of the CMS target areas, comparing performance to that of other hospices in the nation, specific Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) jurisdiction and state. ...

Key Resources: 

• PEPPER Home Page ...
• Hospice PEPPER Guide ...
• Hospice PEPPER Demo Excel spreadsheet ...

How to Download Your PEPPER: Staff End User (SEU) Access: Click here for step-by-step instructions
Editor's Note: We thank Guest Editor Judi Lund Person for her expertise. Click here for her detailed, step-by-step Hospice PEPPER information.

Get ready to access the Hospice Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER)
CMS Center for Program Integrity; 5/28/26 
CPI is getting really close to releasing the Hospice Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER). The Hospice PEPPER will be available through the PEPPER Portal in early June 2026. To ensure hospice providers can successfully access their reports, we ask that you distribute the following instructions to your members.

How to Download Your PEPPER: Staff End User (SEU) Access

The Hospice PEPPER will be available through the PEPPER Portal to Authorized Officials (AOs), Access Managers (AMs), and Staff End Users (SEUs) who have been granted the PEPPER business function in the CMS Identity & Access Management (I&A) System.

To become a Staff End User (SEU) and access your organization’s PEPPER:

1. Log in to the CMS I&A System using your existing NPPES or PECOS credentials.
2. Request the PEPPER business function under your organization.
3. Obtain approval from your organization’s AO or AM (only AOs and AMs can approve SEU access).
4. Once approved, log in to the PEPPER Portal using the same credentials to download your organization’s PEPPER.

• Authorized Officials and Access Managers can find step-by-step instructions in the I&A Quick Reference Guide and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
• If users need help identifying their AO or AM, or have questions about their request, they may contact the PECOS External User Services (EUS) Help Desk.

Rigorous assessment of leadership development programs in health care
NEJM Catalyst; by Amanda Woods Herron, Katelyn J. Cavanaugh, Courtney L. Holladay; 4/26
Effective leadership is increasingly recognized as a critical determinant of organizational performance within health care systems, but funding for such programs is frequently in jeopardy as revenues fail to keep up with other expenses. Therefore, the managers of such programs should adopt rigorous methods for evaluating the impact of their work. Despite the proliferation of leadership development programs, few institutions systematically evaluate these initiatives. This article presents a comprehensive framework for the evaluation of leadership development, grounded in implementation science and organizational research, as applied within a large academic health care institution. The framework emphasizes the necessity of clear eligibility criteria, integrated data sources, and alignment with institutional strategic priorities to assess program effectiveness and support continuous improvement. 

Making a health system merger succeed: Michigan Medicine’s journey toward a high-quality, coordinated statewide system of care
NEJM Catalyst; by Scott A. Flanders, Margaret Dimond, David C. Miller; 4/26
After its April 2023 acquisition of Sparrow Health, Michigan Medicine and its five-hospital system, University of Michigan Health, launched a major effort to advance business, clinical, and cultural integration across the new 11-hospital enterprise. The goal was to achieve a coordinated, integrated statewide system of care that delivered improved quality and better experience, while providing academic hospital-caliber care closer to home for patients across the state. Those efforts have led to improved financial performance, [increased employee satisfaction and reduced RN annual turnover]. Clinical integration, driven by the development of local clinical programs, initiatives to coordinate statewide care, and innovative technology solutions, has resulted in a higher quality of care delivered closer to home. For cultural integration, the keys to success have been leadership alignment, a clear vision and goals, a supportive infrastructure, strong systemwide communication, and achieving and celebrating early wins.

How AI’s growing role in nursing raises questions about safety, ethics, and human care: Penn nursing report cautions that AI systems may add rather than reduce costs and workflow burdens
Penn LDI - Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics; by Hoag Levins; 5/27/26 
As artificial intelligence systems spread through hospitals and clinics, a growing debate is emerging over whether the technology will ultimately strengthen nursing care — or gradually replace parts of it. That tension is at the center of a new University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing report, “Artificial Intelligence and Nursing Science: Opportunities, Challenges, Implications, and Guidelines,” published in the May-June 2026 edition of Nursing Outlook.

Compassion fatigue and spiritual care competence amongst palliative care nurses: a moderated mediation model of care quality and job satisfaction 
Journal of Clinical Nursing / Early View; by Enise Sürücü, Funda Veren, Hülya Kulakçı Altıntaş, Büşra Baş, and Zeynep Acar Demir; 5/30/26 
Impact:

• Compassion fatigue is associated with lower palliative care quality and reduced spiritual care competence amongst palliative care nurses.
• Job satisfaction appears to buffer the negative association between compassion fatigue and care quality, highlighting the importance of supportive organizational environments.
• Supporting nurses' occupational well-being may help sustain high-quality, holistic palliative care and strengthen spiritual care competence in clinical practice.

Awards and Recognitions: May 2026

• The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) honored three outstanding leaders and organizations whose work has shaped the field:
• Jay Mahoney, former President of the National Hospice Organization with the 2026 Lifetime in Excellence Award. Jay was recognized for his many decades of leadership and advocacy that helped establish and make permanent the Medicare hospice benefit and strengthen the national hospice movement.
• Edward W. Martin, MD, MPH, FACP, FAAHPM with the 2026 Chirag Patel Legacy Award. Dr. Martin was honored for nearly 40 years of compassionate clinical leadership and dedication to patients and families.
• Abraham A. Brody, PhD, RN, FAAN and the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing with the 2026 Healthcare in Action Innovation Award, recognized for advancing care delivery and improving outcomes, particularly for individuals living with dementia.
• Modern Healthcare named these organizations as "Best Places to Work in Healthcare 2026"
• Carolina Caring, in Newton, NC
• Chapters Health System, multi-state
• Compass Regional Hospice in Centreville, MD
• Four Seasons, The Care You Trust, in Flat Rock, NC
• Nathan Adelson Hospice, in Las Vegas, NV
  
• Teleios Collaborative Network, in Flat Rock, NC 
• Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of the Wabash Valley, Terre Haute, IN

NPHI submits comments on FY 2027 Hospice Proposed Rule, urges CMS to strengthen transparency, support access, and advance meaningful reform  
National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation, Washington, DC; Press Release; 6/2/26
The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), the national voice for nonprofit hospice and advanced illness care, has submitted formal comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update, Hospice Conditions of Participation Updates, and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements proposed rule. In the letter, NPHI welcomed CMS’s continued engagement with hospice stakeholders and offered detailed recommendations designed to strengthen patient access, improve transparency, reduce unnecessary administrative burden, and support high-quality, community-based hospice and palliative care. 

Social Media Watch 5/29/26

• Ernesto Lopez, CEO 1520ai, commented on a Harvard Business School post Gen AI boosts productivity, but can't turn novices into experts.
• The ASCENT Consortium is proud to announce the 2026 ASCENT Investigator in Residence Fellows! Congratulations to the first cohort of the ASCENT Investigator in Residence Program:
• Katarina AuBuchon, PhD
• Katherine Bernier Carney, PhD, RN
• Phuong Duong, PharmD, MBA, BCPS
• Olga Ehrlich, PhD, RN, CHPN
• Ting Guan, PhD
• Kristin Magan, PhD, MSN, AGNP-BC/AGACNP
• Eberechi Nwogu-Onyemkpa, MD, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM
• Jyotsana Parajuli, PhD, MGS, RN
• Tori Wagner, MD
• Easton Wollney, PhD
• Humane Prison Hospice Project is developing a humanitarian, cost-effective, and transformative solution to ensure that those aging and dying in prison receive compassionate care.

National Alliance for Care at Home voices concerns to CMS in response to the FY 2027 Hospice Proposed Rule 
National Alliance for Care at Home, Alexandria, VA; Press Release; 6/2/26 
The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Hospice Wage Index proposed rule, which proposes payment and regulatory updates under the Medicare hospice benefit. The letter states that the proposed 2.4% hospice payment update for FY 2027 will not adequately account for the cost pressures hospice providers face in today’s healthcare delivery market. ... The Alliance also raised serious concerns about the appropriateness and data accuracy related to the hospice Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI), and recommends that CMS pause any use of the SSVI indefinitely and undertake a transparent, collaborative approach with the provider community to better target its efforts to address hospice fraud, waste, and abuse. 

FBI Public Service Announcement: Emerging hospice fraud targeting Medicare recipients 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Public Service Announcement, Alert Number I-060326-PSA; 6/3/26 
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is issuing this Public Service Announcement to warn the public of an emerging hospice fraud scheme that targets vulnerable Medicare recipients who are not in need of hospice services. Scammers are enrolling Medicare patients in hospice care for services they do not need or for services that are not provided. ...
Tips to Protect Yourself:

• Never give out Medicare or other insurance information to anyone who is not your doctor.
• Never accept incentives like gift cards or money in return for hospice services and be wary of too good to be true offers.
• Use Medicare's Hospice Compare site to look up provider ratings; avoid providers with low star ratings.
• Always review your explanation of benefits statements and Medicare Summary Notices for unknown providers and services

Report It: Ifyou believe you have been a victim of a similar fraudulent activity, please file a report with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. Be sure to include as much information as possible, such as identifying information about the company or health care provider including name, phone number, address, email address, and website.

What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us. ~Helen Keller