Home-health [and hospice] provider Enhabit to go private in $1.1 billion deal with Kinderhook 
Reuters; by Kamal Choudhury; 2/23/26 
Enhabit (EHAB.N), said on Monday [2/23] private equity firm Kinderhook Industries will buy the home-health services provider and take it private in a deal worth about $1.1 billion. ... The Dallas‑based company will keep its name and continue operating its 249 home health locations and 117 hospice locations across 34 U.S. states. ... The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. Enhabit said its shares will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange when the transaction closes.

Doing everything FOR the patient, not TO the patient 
HIStalk - Healthcare IT News & Opinion; by Nassib Charmoun; 2/23/26 
“Do as much as possible for the patient and as little as possible to the patient.” That single sentence, written by Bernard Lown, MD in “The Lost Art of Healing,” should serve as a universal guide to thinking about medicine, caregiving, and what it truly means to heal. Dr. Lown was my mentor beginning in my early 20s and remained a close friend until his death in 2021 at age 99, He was decades ahead of his time. He believed that medicine should integrate scientific rigor with moral imagination, and that clinical excellence without compassion is incomplete care. ... Increasingly, the evidence suggests that quality of life, not simply quantity of life, must be the defining outcome.

Hollywood Health System, Inc. announces major expansion of palliative care services amid record demand 
The America Watch, Toluca, CA; Press Release; 2/20/26 
Hollywood Health System, Inc. (HHS), a leading provider of comprehensive post-acute clinical care, today announced a significant increase in patient enrollment within its Palliative Care Services division. To meet this rising demand due to shifting demographics, the company is methodically expanding its clinical staffing and specialized resources, reinforcing its commitment to high-quality supportive care. ... To support the growing patient census, Hollywood Health System, Inc. has increased its clinical headcount by 25% over the last two quarters. 

A nationwide retrospective analysis of trends in palliative care consultation and do-not-resuscitate status in heart failure hospitalizations 
Palliative Medicine; by Nikitha Murthy, Ramy Sedhom, Purvi Parwani, Megan Pelter, Liset Stoletniy, Tanya Doctorian, Diane Tran, Antoine Sakr, Dmitry Abramov; 2/21/26 
Conclusions: While palliative care and do-not-resuscitate use among heart failure hospitalizations have increased, they remain low. Over half of those who die during a heart failure admission do not receive palliative care consultation, underscoring missed opportunities to optimize end-of-life care. 

Vinyl therapy brings comfort to Dell Seton patients through music and memories 
ABC KVUE, Austin, TX; by Michael Courier; 2/23/26 
At Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, palliative care physician Dr. Tyler Jorgensen rolls a record player on a cart into patients’ rooms, along with an ever‑growing library of vinyl records. The bedside music program, called ATX‑VINyL, is designed for patients facing serious or terminal diagnoses, from metastatic cancer to advancing dementia and Parkinson’s disease. In palliative medicine, Jorgensen describes his team as an “extra layer of support” that focuses on a patient’s values, stories and goals while managing symptoms and navigating difficult treatment decisions.

Co-designing a framework to communicate patient-centred outcomes in palliative care: involving patients and the public to reframe understanding 
Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes; by Mevhibe B Hocaoglu, Adejoke Oluyase, Deb Smith, Rashmi Kumar, Sarah Perman, Matthew Maddocks, Sian Best, Chloe Nast, Sabrina Bajwah, Katherine E Sleeman, Irene J Higginson; 2/21/26 online ahead of print 
Conclusions: This study found that communication of patient-centred outcomes and Patient-Reported outcome (PRO) evidence can be strengthened through meaningful patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE). This approach helps to reframe public understanding of palliative care, highlighting its broader relevance beyond end-of-life settings. While developed in the context of palliative care, the framework offers transferable strategies for communicating complex outcomes in other often misunderstood or stigmatised areas, such as mental health and dementia care.

Fraught times in the I.C.U. 
DNYUZ; letter to the editor, Dr. Jennifer Friedman; 2/21/26 
Re “My Patient Was Dying, but Would His Wife Accept It?,” by Daniela J. Lamas (Opinion guest essay, Feb. 1):

• Dr. Lamas’s essay felt painfully familiar, because I am both a physician and a “difficult” family member. ... Prognosis is not prophecy. Families labeled “difficult” often carry love, history and promises made long before the I.C.U. When doctors pause to hear that, we practice better medicine. ... by Jennifer Friedman, San Diego
• Of course the wife was “difficult” when her husband was dying! “Difficult” is a word best used for finicky restaurant patrons, or hotel guests who are never satisfied. We loved ones, we are not “difficult.” We want those dear to us to stay on this side of the veil. ... by Joanna Galuszka, Phoenix
• I appreciated Dr. Daniela J. Lamas’s article demonstrating the difficulty of providing medical care to dying patients and their families. She articulates the charged dynamic well. I have been there myself, as a doctor caring for patients dying of diseases, as a father of a child who succumbed to metastatic cancer and as the chair of an ethics committee in a hospital that saw its share of terminally ill patients. The most important words in her article are “I paused.” ... by Keith Jantz Stilwell, Kan.

Apex Hospice, ex-director settle False Claims retaliation suit 
Bloomberg Law; by Daniel Seiden; 2/20/26 
Illinois-based Apex Hospice & Palliative Care Inc. and its former medical director reached a confidential settlement of a False Claims Act suit alleging the company fired her in retaliation for calling attention to Medicare fraud, a federal district court said Friday. Janice Makela’s suit is dismissed without prejudice, Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said in an order.

‘Magical outcomes’: The case for launching PACE 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 2/20/26 
Programs for All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE) are extremely challenging to establish. Nevertheless, more hospices are other health care providers are investing in the model due to the positive outcomes participants are seeing. ... Hospice News caught up with Robert Pottharst, CEO of myPlace Health, to discuss the benefits of the PACE model and what it takes to establish a program.

‘I just wanted them not to suffer’: Should terminally ill Ohioans be able to decide when it’s time to die? 
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH; by Mary Frances McGowna; 2/22/26 
In a growing number of states, terminally ill patients now have a legal option that would have been unthinkable to many Americans a generation ago: a doctor’s prescription that allows them to end their own life. The question is one of the most personal in modern health policy: Should a mentally competent, terminally ill person be allowed — with state approval and medical oversight — to choose the timing of their death? ... The debate is accelerating — and it’s reaching closer to Ohio. cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer will publish a continuing series involving the multitude of issues involving end-of-life decisions, including hospice care, the costs of care for the terminally ill, ethics, legal issues and more. If you’ve experienced these issues in your family and are willing to discuss your experiences and thoughts, please email Mary Frances McGowan at mmcgowan@cleveland.com.

Lawyer explains why everyone should do 'mandatory hospice volunteering' when they turn 18 
Upworthy; by Heather Wake; 2/20/26 
In a recent, thought-provoking episode of the Impact Theory podcast with Tom Bilyeu, renowned divorce attorney and author James Sexton shared how being a hospice volunteer drastically changed his perspective on life. "I think when you turn 18, you should have to do a year or two of mandatory hospice volunteering," Sexton said. "It changed my entire way of viewing the world."

Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground. ~ Rosa Parks