Hospice of Southern West Virginia is offering free Hospice Aide training for qualified applicants 
sABC-4 WOAY, Beckley, WV; by Brandy Lawrence; 8/26/26 
Hospice of Southern West Virginia is offering Hospice Aide training at no cost to applicants interested in starting a career caring for hospice patients in their homes and at Bowers Hospice House. Applicants must have a high school diploma or equivalent, reliable transportation, and complete a WV Cares background check and drug screening. Applications are open now, and training begins on the first day of employment once all pre-employment requirements are completed. 
Editor's Note: Bravo to Hospice of Southern West Virginia for this innovative, supportive edcuation initiative to address staffing needs for hospice aides. To adapt this for your hospice, examine the CMS Hospice Conditions of Participation: § 418.76 Hospice aide and homemaker services.

(a) Hospice aide qualifications
(b) Content and duration of hospice aide classroom and supervised practical training.
(c) Competency evaluation
(d) In-service training
(e) Qualifications for instructors conducting classroom and supervised practical training
(f) Eligible competency evaluation organziations
(g) Hospice aide assignments and duties
(h) Supervision of hospice aides

Additionally, you must adhere to your state's board of nursing requirements for nursing aides.

From zombies to zealots: cultivating passion and purpose in healthcare leadership | part one 
Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with DJ Mitsch and Tasha Walsh; 8/26/26 
Healthcare professionals often enter the field with a calling—but somewhere between compliance, productivity demands, regulatory pressure, and relentless change, that calling can begin to disappear. In Part One of From Zombies to Zealots, Chris Comeaux is joined by DJ Mitsch, pioneering executive coach, author, and founder of the Healthcare Coaching Institute, and Tasha Walsh, CEO and Executive Director of ConnectionsPlus Healthcare + Hospice.  Together, they explore how passionate, purpose-driven healthcare professionals can gradually become disconnected from the very work that once inspired them. DJ argues that when organizations celebrate productivity and profitability at the expense of people, work becomes transactional rather than transformational—and trust, imagination, and engagement begin to erode.

Housing instability complicates end‑of‑life care for aging unhoused populations
The Miami Times; Pilar Ingle; 8/25/26 
... Nationally, 771,480 people — the highest number ever recorded — experienced homelessness in 2024. As the number of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. grows, so too does the need for palliative and end-of-life care for these individuals. ... Research has found that specialized health care in general is more effective and affirming for unhoused individuals than traditional health services. Examples of such specialized palliative programs in the U.S. and internationally include the Rocky Mountain Refuge, the INN Between and the Harborview Homeless Palliative Care Team in the U.S., and Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless in Canada.

Miles for Mercy raises more than $4,000 before riders hit the road 
PR Newswire, Frederick, MD; by American Iron Speed-n-Cycle; 7/25/26 
American Iron Speed-n-Cycle has raised more than $4,000 for Frederick Health Hospice through community sponsorships for the 2nd Annual Miles for Mercy Poker Run, nearly doubling the total raised during last year's event before a single rider takes to the road this year [on Oct. 17]. ... "The response from the business community has been incredible," said Tracy O'Clair, marketing manager for American Iron Speed-n-Cycle and organizer of Miles for Mercy. "These businesses aren't simply putting their names on an event. They're choosing to give back to an organization that supports people and families throughout our community during some of the most difficult times in their lives."

Cartera Health lands three companies on 2026 Inc. 5000 
Journal of Business News; by AI; 8/26/26 
Cartera Health announced that White Orchid Hospice, Sterling Physical Therapy & Wellness and Sterling Staffing Solutions were all named to the 2026 Inc. 5000 list. The announcement was made Aug. 26, 2026, from Houston. - The Inc. 5000 ranks the fastest-growing private companies in America. ... White Orchid Hospice ranked No. 1,407 with 251% three-year revenue growth. - White Orchid Hospice also appeared on the 2025 list at No. 1,815, moving up more than 400 spots year over year. ... Dr. Sterling Carter said the three-company sweep reflects operating discipline across the portfolio, not just strength in one business. The result suggests Cartera Health’s business mix is resilient enough to produce growth in three different service lines at once.

What CMS's CY2027 home health proposal means for palliative care 
JD Supra; by Edo Banach and Lauren Carboni; 8/25/26  
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) CY 2027 Home Health Prospective Payment System proposed rule (“HH PPS Proposed Rule”) confirms that community-based palliative care may be covered under the existing Medicare home health benefit-creating near-term operational questions, and longer-term strategic opportunities, for home health agencies, hospices, and other health care providers serving a frail and declining population.
Key Takeaways:

• CMS proposes to clarify that palliative care is distinct from hospice and may be covered under the home health benefit, so long as there is a skilled need for such services and the beneficiary is homebound.
• CMS declines to expand the hospice benefit or create a new palliative care benefit, likely deferring to Congress.
• [More ...]

CMS is soliciting public comment on this proposed policy. ... Comments are due no later than 5:00 PM EDT on August 31, 2026, and may be submitted at https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CMS-2026-2311-0002.

Spirituality and religiosity in end-of-life decision-making in intensive care units: a systematic review of preferences, ethical framing, and meaning-making 
Cureus; by Dimitrios G. Apostolakis, Nikiforos V. Angelopoulos, Spiros Georgakis, Fotios Tatsis, Foteini Veroniki, Konstantinos Stamatis, Georgios Papathanakos, Mary Gouva, Vasilios Koulouras; 8/25/26 
End-of-life decision-making in intensive care units (ICUs) is a complex and ethically challenging process shaped not only by clinical factors but also by patients' values, cultural contexts, and spiritual or religious beliefs. ...  [Spirituality] demonstrated a multidimensional role, facilitating acceptance of death, promoting support for palliative care in some contexts, and contributing to meaning-making during the end-of-life process. Cultural and contextual factors moderated these relationships, and the provision of spiritual care by healthcare professionals was associated with less aggressive end-of-life care. ... Integrating spiritual assessment and culturally sensitive spiritual care into routine clinical practice may enhance shared decision-making and improve alignment between treatment decisions and patients' values, preferences, and goals of care.

American Society of Nephrology (ASN) comments on CY2027 ESRD PPS QIP Requests for Information (RFIs)
American Society of Nephrology; official comments letter from ASN to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; 8/24/26
RE: CMS-1846 Medicare Program; CY2027 Changes to the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System, Acute Kidney Injury Dialysis (AKI) Payment, and ESRD Quality Incentive Program 
On behalf of the more than 37,000,000 Americans living with kidney diseases and the 22,000 nephrologists, scientists, and other kidney health care professionals who comprise the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) ... In this letter, ASN provides feedback on the following requests of information (RFIs): ...

• Advancing Palliative Dialysis and Hospice Alignment: ASN recommends defining "palliative dialysis" as an individualized treatment pathway focused on symptom relief and quality of life. To overcome current statutory and financial silos, CMS should remove barriers to concurrent hospice care and home health services for ESRD patients, utilizing direct-to-facility reimbursement or dedicated outlier payments rather than routing dialysis costs through hospice per diem rates.

Editor's Note: A simple word search in this letter identifies the word "hospice" 105 times (use Ctrl+F). Explore more here.

Oregon OSHA pursues workplace violence prevention rule for healthcare employers 
Mondaq; by Littler Mendelson; 8/26/26 
Oregon OSHA has proposed a comprehensive workplace violence prevention rule for healthcare employers, implementing Senate Bill 537's statutory requirements. The proposal mandates periodic security assessments, development of prevention programs, and annual training for hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, home health agencies, and hospice programs. While the healthcare industry broadly supports violence prevention efforts, questions remain about whether the rule's training requirements exceed legislative.

Limestone County [Alabama] providers to receive share of state Rural Health Transformation Program grants 
The News Courier, Athens, AL; by Ben Bullard; 8/26/26 
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey this week announced the awarding of 138 grants worth more than $144 million to healthcare providers and institutions statewide as part of the Alabama Rural Health Transformation Program (ARHTP). The awards include funding for medical infrastructure and cybersecurity upgrades in Limestone County, while also supporting numerous programs that include Limestone as part of a wider multi-county area. “Alabama is serious about creating systematic changes through the ARHTP to ensure every citizen has access to quality care. This program is enabling institutions covering every part of the state to improve healthcare for Alabamians through projects that are both innovative and sustainable,” said Ivey in announcing the grants.

Nonreporting of race and ethnicity in medical research harms us all 
JAMA Internal Medicine | Editorial | Health Equity; by Sharon K. Inouye, MD, MPH, Jerard Kneifati-Hayek, MD, MS, Annette Flanagin, RN, MA, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS; Raegan W. Durant, MD, MPH; 8/24/26 
At JAMA Internal Medicine, we have become increasingly aware that some US researchers are unable to report on race or ethnicity as demographic variables to describe their sample or to conduct stratified analyses by these variables. In some cases, we have been informed that based on 3 recent US federal executive orders, the stewards of federal databases, such as those responsible for distributing data from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), are unable to release any race or ethnicity data for research purposes. The restrictions may be particularly prohibitive when study investigators are US federal employees. We have been informed of similar concerns occurring at other biomedical journals. 
Editor's Note: Stark examples of these racial/ethnicity disparities repeatedly emerged when I was researching and writing our newsletter's 25-decades series leading up to July 4, 2026: A History of Care: 250 Years of American Need, Service and Hope. Dig deeper with the easy-to-navigate online version at Composing Life; use the "Search" engine at the bottom of the page to find specific examples. From our Today's Encouragement: "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman, because it often results in physical death. ~ Martin Luther King"

Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. ~ Pema Chödrön