How would hospice use differ if every Medicare beneficiary were in Medicare Advantage?
Journal of Palliative Medicine; by Claire K Ankuda, Karen McKendrick, Melissa Aldridge; 6/26
Hospice use is higher in the growing Medicare Advantage (MA) program compared to Traditional Medicare (TM). It is uncertain if this is due to different hospice referral patterns. Among 5153 decedents, 35.3% were in MA at death. Compared to TM decedents, MA decedents were younger, more likely to be Hispanic, less likely to reside in a facility, and less likely to report serious illnesses (dementia, cancer, stroke, heart disease, and lung disease). We estimated that if TM decedents had been enrolled in MA, hospice use would have been 6.1% higher ... This difference was pronounced among those with higher education and serious illnesses in TM: for example, 10.1% higher for those with dementia ... versus without dementia ...

The ASCENT Consortium - Two Requests for Applications are now open!
ASCENT Consortium press release; 7/22/26
The ASCENT Consortium is pleased to announce two Requests for Applications (RFA) are now open, with letters of intent due 8/10/26:

• Research Scholar Award: ASCENT will fund up to 13 junior faculty looking to establish themselves as independent investigators in palliative care research.
• Pilot and Exploratory Studies Award: ASCENT will fund up to 12 early-career investigators transitioning from a K to an R award and mid-career researchers exploring new directions.

Exploring the relationship between usage of a digital mindfulness app and perceived stress among caregivers of persons living with dementia
Aging & Mental Health; by Michael P. Williams, Morgan Seward, Elizabeth M. Allen, Raquel G. Tatar, Darby M. Simon, Jennifer Huberty, Ana-Maria Vranceanu, Evan Plys; 6/26
Mindfulness digital health interventions (DHIs) can support stress management among caregivers of persons living with dementia (PLWD), yet few studies investigate dose-response relationships. This study is a secondary analysis of a feasibility randomized controlled trial of Healthy Minds Program for Caregivers (HMP-C), a mindfulness DHI to reduce stress among caregivers of PLWD, against an educational podcast control (Wellness App [WA]). Participants were instructed to use HMP-C or WA 10 min per day. Every 10 min of HMP-C usage per week was significantly associated with a decrease in perceived stress by 0.7 ... Higher baseline stress and anxiety were related to lowered usage in active control ... , but not in HMP-C.

The effect of palliative care involvement in vascular patients at the end-of-life
Journal of Vascular Surgery; by Angela McCarthy, Kristy Wrana, Emma Triantafyllou, Ya-Huei Li, Carol Strycharz, Lindsay Lynch, Edward D Gifford; 6/26
Vascular surgeons frequently manage critically ill patients and support complex end-of-life decision-making. Despite well-documented benefits of palliative care in serious illness, prior studies report that only 25% of vascular patients near the end of life received such support. Those without a palliative consult were more likely to undergo a code (18.0% vs. 6.6% ... ). After palliative consultation, the proportion of patients with a code status of do-not-resuscitate increased from 50.0% to 77.4%, and the proportion with a full code designation decreased from 50% to 22.6% ... Patients with the goal of care to allow natural death increased to more than half of the patients from 18.4% after the palliative consultation ... These findings highlight an opportunity for vascular surgeons to proactively integrate palliative care, improving alignment between clinical interventions and patient preferences.

Caring with confidence: A guided approach to end-of-life care
Journal of Pain & Symptom Management; by Laura Maldoon, Stacy L. Nilsen; 6/26
Nurses may face uncertainty when caring for dying patients due to inadequate education and experience. In nurses caring for hospitalized End-of-Life patients, does having a guided End-of-Life template and care resources, compared to current practices, improve registered nurse attitudes in providing individualized end-of-life care? Two inpatient nursing units received a 30-minute End-of-Life educational intervention utilizing the City of Hope’s Comfort, Airway, Restlessness and Delirium, Emotional and Spiritual Support (CARES) toolset as a standard resource to assess and prioritize end-of-life symptom management and family communication. This project suggests improved comfort and confidence among RNs in providing end-of-life care with the use of the CARES toolset. Nurses also demonstrated increased interest in seeking additional education.

Implementing the PAR scale in a pediatric concurrent care setting: A quality improvement project
Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Taylor Ronne, Andrea Cahill, Kassidy Horst, Leeza Struwe, Kelly Gonzales; 6/26
Pediatric patients in concurrent hospice and palliative care often face fragmented communication regarding family goals of care during acute hospitalizations. This quality improvement project evaluated clinician and care coordinator experiences with the implementation of the Preference for Acute Rehospitalization Scale at Children's Nebraska. A pre- and postimplementation survey design ...  assessed awareness of family goals, confidence in decision-making, and perceptions of the tool among an interdisciplinary team. While clinicians expressed general openness to standardized communication tools, results showed no statistically significant differences in survey items, highlighting that successful adoption in complex pediatric settings requires sustained education, seamless workflow integration, and robust interdisciplinary engagement to ensure treatment remains aligned with family preferences.

[Italy] Fever in a palliative care setting: Clinical insights and implications from a prospective observational cohort study
Palliative Medicine; by Stefania Cheli, Elena Angeli, Oscar Corli, Sofia Dinegro, Agostino Zambelli, Tania Carta, Romina Shazivari, Michaela Smolikova, Paolo Franceschi, Francesco Molà, Yara Silva Cruzeiro, Emilio Clementi, Andrea Gori; 5/26
Fever is a frequent but complex symptom in adults with a limited prognosis, arising from multifactorial causes beyond infection. The study was conducted in an inpatient hospice palliative care unit within the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, Italy (January and December 2024). Fever occurred in 40% of patients, with a median onset of 5.5 days after admission. In 39.7% of cases, fever was attributed to infections, mainly catheter-associated urinary tract infection. Its strong association with medical devices highlights the need for proportional, personalised interventions that primarily consider prognosis, symptom relief, and quality of life.

Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people. ~ George Washington