Homecare Homebase announces 2026 Customer Award Winners and Home Care Aide Scholarship recipients 
PR Newswire, Dallas, TX; by Homecare Homebase; 9/22/26 
Homecare HomebaseSM (HCHB) today announced the winners of its 2026 Customer Awards and the recipients of its Home Care Aide Scholarships. The annual programs recognize organizations and individuals demonstrating excellence across clinical quality, operational performance, industry leadership, innovation, and professional development. This year's honorees reflect the breadth of work underway across home-based care to strengthen patient outcomes, improve performance, and support the professionals who deliver care in homes and communities nationwide.

• Industry Advocate Award ...
• Innovation & Achievement Award ...
• Quality Award - Home Health ...
• Quality Award - Hospice ...
• KPI Excellence Award - Home Health ...
• KPI Excellence Award - Hospice ...
• Home Care Aide Scholarship Program ...

Labor Day auction raises more than $1 million 
Hospice & Community Care, Lancaster, PA; online letter to their sponsors, volunteers, and community; retrieved from the internet 9/22/26 
Thanks to your incredible generosity, we are proud to share that more than $1 million was raised to support hospice and palliative care, bereavement services, and grief support programs for the thousands of patients and families served by Hospice & Community Care each year. This remarkable achievement reflects the compassion and commitment of our community. Because of you, we can continue our mission of helping patients and families live better with serious illness through end of life. From all of us at Hospice & Community Care, thank you for making a difference.

CMS continues to evaluate impact of moratorium, agency tells Alliance 
McKnights Home Care; by Liza Berger; 9/14/26 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services continues to evaluate the impact of the home health and hospice moratorium, it told the National Alliance for Care at Home Monday [9/14]. “CMS continues to evaluate the impact of the moratoriums, including their effects on patient access to care and on the fiscal integrity of the federal healthcare programs,” the agency said in a statement to the Alliance. ... While CMS officials told members of the Alliance in July they would provide 60 days notice, the statement said it “is under no obligation to provide 60 days’ advance notice of its intentions regarding the moratoriums, and no such notice should be assumed or expected.”

CMS expands the ACCESS Model: new tracks for heart failure, COPD, substance use disorders, tobacco cessation, and extended MSK support 
Foley Hoag; 9/21/26 
Key Takeaways:

• CMS is expanding the ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) Model in spring 2027 to add five new tracks: heart failure, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD,) substance use disorders (SUD), and tobacco cessation, as well as extended support for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.
• The expansion is especially significant for palliative care: the new tracks emphasize symptom management, quality of life, functional improvement and technology-enabled care for individuals with serious or chronic conditions.
• The Model now includes 160 participating organizations, and three out of four people with Medicare qualify for at least one ACCESS track.

Palliative and psycho-oncology care: Dr. Ramy Sedhom on patient distress signs 
Oncology Nursing News; by Alex Biese; 9/21/26
Ramy Sedhom, MD, of Penn Medicine Princeton Health discusses blending palliative care with psycho-oncology to treat patient distress in oncology care. ... In this Q&A with Oncology Nursing News, Sedhom discusses strategies for bridging historical silos between palliative care and psycho-oncology, debunks persistent misconceptions surrounding supportive interventions in curative settings, and identifies clinical red flags for unseen distress. 

Support children through grief with faith and honesty 
Patheos; by M.T. Mom; 9/22/26 
Grief is messy for adults. Involving kids raises the stakes. How do we support children through grief while we’re grieving alongside them? ...

• Grief is Complex and Layered ...
• Modeling: Let Them See You Mourn ...
• Practice Active Listening and Honoring the Unique Timelines of Grief ... -
• Maintain Consistent Routines ...
• Offer Creative Outlets ...
• Create Space for Remembering ...
• Embracing Hope While Continuing to Live (Living Honors the Dead) ...
• Therapy and Counseling ...

Finger Lakes Nurse Honor Guard gives late nurses a final tribute 
Democrat and Chronicle; by Mike Murphy; 9/21/26 
As Ruth Benjamin was getting ready to retire after more than 50 years in nursing, two of her colleagues passed away. ... Nursing is a calling and a way of life, Benjamin said by way of explanation, and many like her and her colleague gave everything they had to their profession. ... After some research, Benjamin founded the Finger Lakes Nurse Honor Guard, which celebrates its third anniversary in October. The all-volunteer honor guard ensures that late nurses are recognized, in a similar way that honor guards pay tribute to late military or first responders. ... The service is free.
Editor's Note: Though this article is behind a paywall, you can learn more about this inspirational Finger Lakes Nurse Honor Guard from their website.

Palliative care conversations can enhance support for patients with advanced cancer 
Oncology Nurse Advisor; by Megan Garlapow, PhD; 9/22/26 
Palliative care and hospice address different points along the trajectory of serious illness, and clinicians can improve patient and family understanding by clearly distinguishing the 2 services and using direct, supportive language, according to a presentation at ONS Bridge 2026 by Meg Krasne, MD, MPH, clinical expert and instructor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. ... She described palliative care as a specialized medical discipline centered on symptom management, coping, and medical decision-making. Rather than representing a transition away from active treatment, palliative care can function as an additional layer of support throughout the course of serious illness. 

CMS cracks down on fraud, waste, and abuse in the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace® 
CMS Newsroom; Press Release; 9/22/26 
As part of the ongoing efforts of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud to crush fraud in the healthcare system and protect taxpayer dollars, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking aggressive, sweeping actions within the Federal Marketplace — canceling approximately 315,000 unauthorized enrollments covering more than 760,000 individuals, which is expected to result in a return of roughly $2.2 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies.  

URI nursing students get direct experience in hospice, palliative care 
The University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI; by Patrick Luce; 9/22/26 
The first group of University of Rhode Island College of Nursing students have begun clinical rotations in hospice and palliative care, as the college officially begins a formal academic-practice partnership with HopeHealth aimed at advancing clinical education, training, and professional opportunities in the field. Eight undergraduate students began advance practice experience at the Providence-based nonprofit hospice and palliative care center Sept. 10 under the faculty supervision of Assistant Professor Daina Worcester. ... The goal is to foster professional growth, improve patient care, and strengthen the academic-clinical partnership between the college and healthcare facilities around the region.

Establishing an AI policy: a comprehensive white paper for life sciences teams
Sakara Digital; by Amie Harpe; 9/21/26
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly evolved from a niche technology to a foundational element of business operations across all sectors. ... This white paper provides a comprehensive, narrative-driven guide for business and compliance leaders ...  Special attention is given to the unique regulatory, ethical, and operational considerations in life sciences and healthcare, with tangible guidance for governance, validation, training, monitoring, and audit strategies.

We've officially reached that time of year where it's sweater weather in the morning, but by midday you die of heatstroke.