Hospice Savannah launches Georgia Care Innovators to unite growing family of services 
WJCL-22 ABC, Savannah, GA; by Emma Hamilton; 9/3/26 
After more than 45 years of providing end-of-life care, Hospice Savannah has launched Georgia Care Innovators, a new organizational identity to reflect its expanding range of healthcare and community services. Hospice Savannah will continue operating under its established name as a central part of the organization. ... “Our story has never been defined by a single service,” said Kathleen Benton, president and CEO of Georgia Care Innovators. “It’s been defined by listening to our community, recognizing unmet needs and asking how we can help.” ... The Georgia Care Innovators family includes:

• Hospice Savannah
• The Steward Center for Palliative Care
• The Edel Caregiver Institute
• Full Circle Grief & Loss Center
• CAPABLE
• Ride-Well Mobility
• PACE Georgia
• Georgia Care Innovators Foundation

Sagility volunteers host back-to-school Event for Hospice El Paso's Butterfly Program 
Cision PRWeb, El Paso, TX; by Sagility; 9/3/26 
Sagility, a leading tech-enabled healthcare operations and transformation company, recently hosted a volunteer-led back-to-school picnic for children and families connected to Hospice El Paso's Butterfly Program. The event brought together local families, community partners, and Sagility employees to help students prepare for the upcoming school year. ... Hospice El Paso's Butterfly Program provides specialized pediatric and perinatal hospice care, emotional support, and resources for families facing serious illness, end-of-life care, or loss. Hosting the event reflects Sagility's broader dedication to giving back to the regions where its employees live and work.
Editor's Note: A back-to-school picnic sounds simple — until you consider that these children and families are living with serious illness, end-of-life care, or loss through the Butterfly Program's pediatric and perinatal hospice care. Sagility's volunteers didn't just fund it; they showed up, in person, restoring an ordinary joy that grief so often steals. Which local employer in your community could become this kind of partner — not just a donor, but a familiar face at your next family event?

Celebrating Connie Fox: 96 years young and 25 years of giving back
HERLIFE Magazine; by HERLIFE Magazine; 9/1/26
This year, we proudly celebrate Connie Fox, our oldest active volunteer, as she turns 96 years young. Connie began volunteering with Hospice of San Joaquin in 2001, after our hospice cared for her husband. ... When asked why she continues to volunteer, Connie’s answer is simple. “The satisfaction. I’ve loved every minute of it. ... We are family. I love Hospice of San Joaquin.” The feeling is mutual. ... At 96, Connie continues to embrace life with enthusiasm. ... She firmly believes that staying involved and positive is the key to a fulfilling life.

National Alliance VP: palliative care should occur throughout continuum 
Hospice News; podcast hosted by Jim Parker with Katie Wehri; 9/3/26 
Palliative care should be offered via home health, but not only through home health. This is according to Katie Wehri, vice president for regulatory affairs, quality and compliance at the National Alliance for Care at Home. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently clarified in a proposed rule that palliative care is available via the home health benefit. Hospice News recently sat down with Wehri on the Elevate podcast to discuss the implications of this clarification for providers, as well as other avenues CMS could consider to expand palliative care.

What palliative care teaches us about living well 
Psychology Today; by Jill Schwartz-Chevlin, MD, MBA; 9/2/26 
When I reflect on my 20 years of practicing palliative medicine, the biggest takeaway is how the setting changes the work. Sitting down at a kitchen table with a patient and their family, instead of standing at a hospital bedside or in a clinic, changes the relationship. The person in front of me is in the comfort of their own home, surrounded by the people and objects that hold their history, and the conversation becomes theirs to lead. ...

Nearly half of veterans with stage IV cancer die without hospice: a national VHA analysis of 45,397 decedents 
Medscape; by Sasmith Menakuru, MD; Alexander Quattlebaum, MD; Chance Bloomer, MD; Lara Khoury, MD; Abdulsabur Sanni, MD; Michael Goodman, MD; 9/3/26  
Results: Of 45,937 veterans, 20,338 ... had no hospice admission or consultation.  ... 
Conclusions: Hospice access for veterans with Stage IV cancer deteriorated during COVID-19 and shows no meaningful recovery; ... These findings identify Stage IV hospice access as an underrecognized national VHA quality priority warranting Stage IV—triggered automated palliative care consultation, embedded outpatient palliative care in oncology clinics, standardized referral protocols at documented progression, and veteran/family-facing hospice education. This analysis establishes a statistically rigorous national baseline for benchmarking interventions–and a call to action for the VHA oncology community to restore hospice as a core element of veteran-centered end-of-life care.

How pet therapy brings joy to Hospice of the Valley patients 
AZ Big Media; by Lin Sue Flood; 9/3/26
Wagging tails and wet kisses are bringing a unique brand of medicine to local patients and families navigating a challenging time of life. Hospice of the Valley is celebrating the success of its Pet Connections program, which began 20 years ago when a medical director brought her golden Labrador to visit a patient and saw how much joy the dog brought. Today, the nonprofit agency has more than 50 dedicated pet therapy teams that bring comfort and smiles to patients, caregivers and family members. Among these beloved volunteers are Ed Gesten and his Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Huck. ...   

Evasiveness in everyday hospital palliative care practice: a focused ethnography 
Journal of Clinical Nursing; by Carolien van Leussen, Evelien Kuip, Renske Kruizinga, Els van Wijngaarden; 9/2/26 
Conclusion: This study shows how evasiveness in hospital-based palliative care is produced and sustained through biomedical routines, organizational pressures and professional and personal orientations. These factors make it difficult to realize the holistic ideals of palliative care in everyday practice. As a result, patients' fears, uncertainties and end-of-life wishes often remain insufficiently explored, whereas organizational routines shape what is considered appropriate and possible in clinical interactions.

CMS oversight did not prevent Medicare Part D sponsors from making $587.7 million in ineligible payments to pharmacies for drugs available over the counter but labeled as prescription-only 
United States Government HHS-OIG; Report number OAS-24-02-004; issued on 8/31/26, posted on 9/2/26 

• Why OIG Did This Audit ...
• What OIG Found: CMS oversight of Medicare Part D sponsors did not prevent payments to pharmacies for some OTC drugs sold under obsolete Rx-only labeling. ... 
• What OIG Recommends: We recommend that CMS issue guidance on timeframes for Part D sponsors to reject payments for OTC drugs sold under obsolete Rx-only labeling after an Rx-to-OTC switch. This step could have helped to prevent $587.7 million in ineligible payments for CYs 2021 through 2023. CMS concurred with our recommendation.

Dementia associated with shorter survival, fewer days at home after hip fracture
Healio; by Ashlee Moore; 9/2/26
Key takeaways:

• Older adults with dementia died 50.3 days earlier and spent 53.9 fewer days at home after a hip fracture.
• Socioeconomic factors were associated with the biggest differences in days at home.

... “Hip fracture is often a sentinel event for older adults living with dementia, and the consequences of that event extend far beyond that initial hospitalization,” Rebecca Rodin, MD, MSc, a physician and clinician scientist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, told Healio. “Compared with older adults who do not have dementia, those with dementia not only have shorter survival after hip fracture, but those who do survive spend substantially less time at home during the following year.”

Medicine on screen: 10 films doctors may want to rewatch 
Medscape; by Medscape's editorial team; 8/24/26 
Cinema has long portrayed medicine through many different lenses: from the perspectives of doctors and patients to those of friends and family, whether set in hospital wards or research laboratories. This curated selection of classic and contemporary films explores care, illness, and hospital life from strikingly different angles — some realistic, some visionary, and others deeply unsettling. Together, they aim to refocus attention on medicine not only as a science, but as a profoundly human experience. 
10 Films Every Doctor Should (Re)Watch:

1. Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall, 1990 ... Why watch it ..
2. Still Alice, directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, 2014 ...
3. The Doctor, directed by Randa Haines, 1991 ...
4. [More ...]

Labor Day Weekend: Celebrate the worker, not just the weekend.