NPHI urges CMS and state Medicaid agencies to exempt hospice and palliative care patients from Medicaid community engagement requirements 
National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), Washington, DC; Press Release; 7/23/26 
The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) has submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and shared with state Medicaid directors a comment letter urging policymakers and regulators to ensure that individuals receiving hospice and palliative care services are explicitly exempt from Medicaid community engagement requirements during implementation of CMS’s Interim Final Rule (CMS-2454-IFC). The Interim Final Rule (CMS-2454-IFC), issued by CMS on June 1, would implement the statutory Medicaid community engagement requirements established by Congress for certain Medicaid expansion beneficiaries while supporting CMS’s objective of ensuring individuals who are medically unable to meet those requirements retain access to health coverage.

Sterling Hospice home to close, expected to reopen under new ownership 
KWQC-6, Sterling, IL; by KWQC Staff; 7/22/26 
The Rock River Hospice & Home is closing Aug.1, officials announced Wednesday. The organization, which has been serving people throughout the Sauk Valley area for over 40 years, is closing due to longstanding financial challenges, officials said in a media release. “Changes in healthcare reimbursement, increasing operating costs, and other economic pressures have made it increasingly difficult for standalone hospice providers to remain financially sustainable,” officials said. However, officials said care will continue to be available in the community. 

Blue Ridge Care expands in Fauquier County 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 7/22/26 
Blue Ridge Care is expanding its hospice and palliative care services in Fauquier County in its home state of Virginia. The expansion is designed to improve access to care among rural and underserved communities in northern Virginia. It includes enhanced clinical visibility, increased care coordination and strengthened referral partnerships with area hospitals, assisted living and skiled nursing facilities and community organizations. “Fauquier County is a community with deep roots, strong values and a growing need for accessible, quality-trusted care,” said Jason Parsons, president and CEO of Blue Ridge Care.

Only one in five U.S. young adults with advanced cancer receive palliative care as part of treatment, study shows 
American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA; Press Release; 7/23/26 
Young adults with advanced cancer face unique challenges that make palliative care especially important. This population often experiences physical, emotional, and social needs while undergoing treatment, related to their developmental and life-stage transitions. However, a new study by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) reveals that despite a small increase in use over time, only 18.3% of young adults in the United States with advanced cancer received palliative care as part of treatment in 2023. The study is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open. 

Minnesota’s first dual-certified green burial funeral home opens 
News.net, PR Quantum, Saint Paul, MN; by Mueller Memorial; 7/22/26
Interra Green Burial has become the first funeral home in Minnesota to earn certification from both the Green Burial Council and the National Funeral Directors Association. The milestone reflects the funeral home’s focus on environmental sustainability and its role in expanding eco-friendly funeral choices for families in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The dual certification signals a meaningful commitment to offering end-of-life services that align with values of environmental stewardship. Green Burial Council certification is granted to funeral homes that satisfy rigorous standards for environmentally responsible operations. Requirements include the use of biodegradable materials, participation in carbon offset programs, and the adoption of sustainable practices at every stage of the funeral process. 

Local nurse goes to Washington DC to meet with elected officials about hospice fraud 
YubaNet.com, Grass Valley, CA; by Foothills Compassionate Care; 7/22/26 
Last month, at end of June, Registered Nurse, Kellie Bolle of Foothills Compassionate Care, traveled to Washington DC to meet with elected officials on the issue of fraud, waste and abuse in hospice care. ... With a rapidly escalating fraud crisis in hospice care, reputable, mission-focused organizations and providers are having to answer for a growing number of bad actors. Foothills Compassionate Care invites the public to an interactive town hall that will include: An update on national efforts to combat hospice fraud, insights from Clinical Care Manager Kellie Bolle, MSN, RN, CHPN, following her advocacy meetings in Washington, D.C., information about how to identify a reputable hospice provider, a discussion of hospice, palliative care, and the Medicare hospice benefit, and an open question-and-answer session with hospice professionals. Free and open to the public. [On Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Go to this article for their RSVP to the public.]

Nursing philosophy: What it is and why it matters in BSN education 
Nevada State University; by RN to BSN; 7/23/26
... A nursing philosophy is a personal statement of the values and motivations that guide a nurse’s practice. It is not a job description or a list of clinical competencies; rather, it is a reflection of what nursing means to the individual practitioner and how that meaning informs the way they show up at work. A well-developed philosophy of nursing typically addresses several core areas:

• What nursing means to you personally
• Your values around patient dignity and advocacy
• How you approach ethical decision-making
• The nature of the nurse-patient relationship
• Your commitment to ongoing professional growth

New $11.8M federal grant will launch Dartmouth Health’s aging research center 
Valley News, New Hampshire Public Radio; by Olivia Richardson; 7/23/26
Dartmouth Health has received nearly $12 million to create a program to study the needs of people aging with serious illnesses. The $11.8 million federal grant comes from the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence program, through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The program helps states that have historically received less National Institutes of Health funding to expand their research capacity. Close to $3 million has been included in the award to help fund Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine’s participation in the program. Dartmouth Health has named its aging study program the Center for Aging with Serious Illness. The grant will allow the center to collaborate with other research institutions, support early-career clinician-scientists, and broaden the Dartmouth Health research community focusing on older adults with serious illness.

700 rural hospitals at risk of closing, by state 
Becker's Hospital Review; by Madeline Scheetz; 7/22/26 
Seven hundred rural hospitals across the U.S., or about one-third of all rural facilities in the country, are at risk of closing due to severe financial challenges, according to a July 21 Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform analysis. The analysis comprises 264 hospitals that are at immediate risk of closure, according to the report. In almost every state, rural hospitals are at risk of closure. In most states, more than 25% of rural hospitals are at risk and in 11 states, 50% or more are at risk. ... More than 100 rural U.S. hospitals have closed in the past decade, with 110 closing since 2015, according to the report. Fifty-three hospitals have ended inpatient services since the beginning of 2023 to qualify for federal grants only available to rural emergency hospitals.

Behind the scenes of AI-powered bereavement care 
Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 7/21/26 
Technology companies are exploring new ways of using artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen bereavement support, but these evolutions have garnered concerns related to the ethical and emotional impacts. A few different types of AI platforms have developed in recent years that include services designed to allow families to access video or audio clips, photos and letters from a deceased loved one. Some AI technologies use these details to create a digital replica of the person for interaction. “First-person consent, given with capacity and ideally well before the end of life, is the only sound basis for AI,” Healy told Hospice News. “The ‘family agreed’ is not a substitute for the individual’s own consent to be reproduced. The ‘deepfake-style’ AI asset that could be used to impersonate someone. 
Editor's Note: AI-generated impersonations of deceased persons raise profound ethical concerns involving autonomy and first-person consent, human dignity, privacy, identity, authenticity, ownership, transparency, commercial exploitation, nonmaleficence, and accountability. Clinical concerns include dependency, emotional manipulation, confusion between representation and presence, avoidance of the reality of the death, disruption of adaptive grieving, isolation from human support, and destabilization of vulnerable mourners. These technologies should not be represented as bereavement care without evidence of safety and benefit, explicit safeguards, professional oversight, and clear clinical accountability.

Executive Personnel Changes - 7/24/26

• Allied Services, in Scranton, PA, named Laura A. Marion, RN, BSN, Vice President of the hospice and palliative programs, bringing more than three decades of nursing leadership and compassionate patient care experience to the organization.
  
  
• Chartis, a healthcare advisory firm, announced it has promoted six professionals to senior partner and eight to partner. 
• Senior Partners: Jason Abbot, PharmD, Performance Transformation; Sue Anderson, Strategic Transformation; Mark Bourdenko, Strategic Transformation; Sue Fletcher, RN, Performance Transformation; Keith Lukasik, Strategic Transformation; Sachin Sharma, Performance Transformation
• Partners: Stephanie Crabb, Digital & Technology Transformation; Paulo Farqui, Digital & Technology Transformation; Sean Huffman, Performance Transformation; Jeff Jung, Performance Transformation; Kristin Manzi, Performance Transformation; Brian Rice, Performance Transformation; Nicole Schneider, Digital & Technology Transformation' Cassie Thiessen, Professional Services Team
  
  
• HopeWest, in Grand Junction, CO, appointed Dr. Chris Zaelby as Medical Director of Hospice & Palliative Care, serving Mesa, Delta, Montrose, Ouray, and Rio Blanco counties in Colorado’s Western Slope.
  
  
• Hospice of Scotland County, in Laurinburg, NC, recently honored Dr. Valeriana Esteves-Jute as she concluded 15 years of leadership with the organization, including the past 11 years as Medical Director.
  
  
• VNA's of Vermont---the association for Vermont's eight local, non-profit home health and hospice agencies--has appointed Eric Covey as their Executive Director.

Ah, summer--what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~ Russell Baker