Michigan Center for Rural Health working to expand rural palliative care 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 1/29/25
Recent studies have established a dire need for palliative care in rural areas, and the state of Michigan is no stranger to this situation. To respond to the need, the Michigan Center for Rural Health (MCRH) is partnering with Stratis Health, a nonprofit consulting firm that specializes in assisting rural communities with providing palliative care services. The two organizations, which have partnered on projects related to critical care hospitals and Medicare beneficiaries, will choose five rural communities in the state with the goal of increasing their capacity to provide palliative care. In the current phase of the project, Stratis will be training MCRH staff to apply their framework for implementing palliative care programs in the target areas.

Vermont Mutual grants $10,000 to CVHHH through Charitable Fund 
Vermont Mutual Insurance Group; by Tim; 1/28/25 
Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice (CVHHH) received a $10,000 grant from the Vermont Mutual Charitable Giving Fund. ... “We are honored to award this grant to Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice,” said Sarah Young, executive director of the Vermont Mutual Charitable Giving Fund. “Their unwavering dedication to providing compassionate care and support for individuals and families during life's most challenging moments is truly inspiring.

The Dorion Family Pediatric Center breaks ground in Mandarin 
Jacksonville Daily Record, Jacksonville, FL; by Dan Macdonald; 1/28/25 
The hospice center is designed to expand care and convenience for children and their families. The Foundation of Community Hospice & Palliative Care broke ground Jan. 27 on the Dorion Family Pediatric Center, a pediatric hospice center in Mandarin. ... The space will allow for an expanded range of therapies and support services in a dedicated, pediatric-friendly setting. The facility will provide a centralized location that reduces travel time for the clinical team. Currently, caregivers travel to patients’ homes, the release said. ... The Dorion Family Pediatric Center is named in honor of the Dorion family, who are advocates for compassionate care. The family helped establish the organization. 

Wellesley couple has donated more than $3M toward palliative care at local hospital 
WickedLocal.com, Newton, MA; by Beth McDermott; 1/29/25 
A Wellesley couple recently committed $1.6 million to support palliative care at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, bringing their total contribution to more than $3 million. In a press release, hospital officials said the latest donation from Steve and Rebecca Sullivan will fund a palliative care nurse navigator position to benefit the entire hospital, especially its emergency department. The role is expected to improve the quality of care for seriously ill patients, streamline patient flow and support care teams. A previous $1.5 million gift from the Sullivans, in 2021, endowed the Sullivan Family Chief of Palliative Care position, held by Dr. Kosha Thakore.

The iatrogenic consequences of medicalising grief: Resetting the research agenda 
Sociology of Health & Illness: by Sarah Gurley-Green, Lisa Cosgrove, Milutin Kostic, Lauren Koa, and Susan McPherson; published 11/28/25, distributed via Evermore 1/28/25
When the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) was published in 2013, there was a firestorm of controversy about the elimination of the bereavement exclusion. Proponents of this change and of the proposed “complicated grief” designation believed that this change would help clinicians recognise major depression in the context of recent bereavement. Other researchers and clinicians have raised concerns about medicalising grief. In 2022 “prolonged grief disorder” (PGD) was officially included in the DSM-5-TR in the trauma- and stressor-related disorders section. ... As human rights activists have argued, bereavement support is an inalienable human right, one that is centered on the right to health and well-being, for “bereavement health is as intrinsic to our humanity as any other aspect of health and citizenship” (Macaskill 2022). That is why there are increasing calls for investing in bereavement as a public good and for “cultivat[ing] a bereavement-conscious workforce.” (Lichtenthal et al. 2024, e273). As Lichtenthal notes, it is not only clinicians but also institutions and systems that must “shift bereavement care from an afterthought to a public health priority.”
Editor's note: "Iatrogenic" refers to unintentional consequences/condition from a medical intervention. In the hospice context, this means bereavement/grief from the hospice death. How many patients do you serve? The CMS Hospice Conditions of Participation address "bereavement" and/or "grief" 155 times. What priority do you give to bereavement care before, at and after your patients' deaths? What can you improve?

How a St. Louisan helps her community navigate death by filling out advance directives 
NPR - St. Louis on the Air; by Jada Jones; 1/28/25 
When Vivial Lopez’s grandmother was on life support, her family was faced with many difficult decisions. Her grandmother did not have an advance directive, so her family did not know her final wishes. The experience of navigating her grandmother’s end-of-life plan without any direction led Lopez to advocate for families to prepare advance directives - especially those in Black and brown communities. Approximately only on ein three adults complete an advance directive for end-of-life care. Lopez works with the Gateway End-of-Life Coalition to empower members of the St. Louis community to navigate death through quality end-of-life care.  
Editor's note: Click here for AARP - Find Advance Directives Forms by State, also available in Spanish.

Major tuberculosis outbreak hits Kansas City area 
U.S. News & World Report; by Hannah Lang; 1/29/25 
An outbreak of tuberculosis in the Kansas City area has grown into one of the largest ever recorded in the United States, with dozens of active cases of the infectious disease reported, according to health officials. As of Jan. 24, 67 active cases of tuberculosis, or TB, had been reported in Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas. The outbreak began last year, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said on its website. It did not specify a source of the outbreak. ... Tuberculosis replaced COVID-19 as the top cause for infectious disease-related deaths in 2023, according to a World Health Organization report published in October, highlighting challenges in the global effort in eradicating the disease.

U.S. Attorney’s Office recovers more than $55 million in civil settlements and judgments in calendar year 2024
United States Attorney's Office - Western District of Texas, San Antonio, TX; 1/28/25
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza announced today that the Western District of Texas recovered $55,969,678.60 in settlements and judgments in over 25 affirmative civil enforcement cases between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024. ... The office’s largest civil recoveries were obtained in False Claims Act (FCA) matters. The most significant FCA recoveries include: ...

• a $4.2 million settlement with Elara Caring and its subsidiaries to resolve allegations of false claims for hospice services provided to patients who were not terminally ill; ...

Editor's note: This report reflects only the Western District of Texas. 

Homecare industry facing crisis
WFMZ-TV 69 News, Allentown, PA; by Christina Lengyel; 1/28/25 
...  [Providers] across the state are struggling to hire enough staff to cover the needs of the state’s 300,000 homecare recipients. Unable to offer comparable hourly wages, the industry is losing its potential recruiting pool to gig work and jobs in the service industry. “We are in crisis. The crisis isn’t coming. We are not planning for it. It’s actively here,” said Mia Haney, CEO of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association at a meeting of the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee. The average hourly wage for homecare workers in the state is between $13 and $14, making it hard to compete with other industries. Even within healthcare, counterparts performing the same tasks from within care facilities earn more. Home care advocates say the discrepancy doesn’t add up given the value of homecare.

UNC Health, Duke Health to build children's hospital 
Modern Healthcare; by Alex Kacik; 1/28/25 
UNC Health and Duke Health will build a freestanding children’s hospital in the Piedmont, North Carolina, area. The academic health systems plan to build a 500-bed children’s hospital, a pediatric outpatient center and a children’s behavioral health facility. The project, fueled by a $320 million investment by the state, is set to break ground in 2027 and take six years to complete, the organizations said in a Tuesday news release. 

The tech shaping healthcare in 2025, per 61 leaders 
Becker's Health IT; by Naomi Diaz; 1/28/25 
Healthcare leaders told Becker's that emerging technologies such as ambient listening, AI-driven automation, and advanced remote patient monitoring are set to transform healthcare in 2025 by tackling workforce shortages and boosting operational efficiency. 

Cyber Threats 2025 
Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); by Joel Garr; 1/28/25
One of the biggest worries hospices face today is the threat of a cyberattack. ... Experts say there are four steps to developing the plan.

1. Prepare a business impact analysis by identifying mission-critical functions and processes and the technical and human resources required to support the continuation of these functions.
2. Identify and document the steps needed to recover these critical functions and processes. This may require collaboration with software vendors.
3. Organize a cross-functional Business Continuity Team to document the plan.
4. Conduct training for the Business Continuity Plan, testing, and tabletop exercises to evaluate both recovery strategies and the plan.

How to prioritize AI initiatives: A strategic framework for maximizing ROI 
CIO; Opinion, by Santhosh Gottigere; 1/28/25 
... AI is highly disruptive and rapidly evolving at breakneck speed. Advanced versions of large language models (LLMs) are coming out at regular intervals with improved compute power capabilities. Those LLMs are also achieving the kind of increased accuracy scores on the MMLU benchmark leaderboard that have become synonymous with the version upgrade cycles we are all accustomed to with SaaS product releases like clockwork. ... Developing a clear and comprehensive strategic vision is the starting point of prioritizing AI initiatives with business goals. Answering the question “Why” sets the tone. Will AI — and specifically generative AI (genAI) — assist in your customer experience and retention efforts?  Are you hoping it will open up or drive new lines of revenue? Or is it a “we’re not sure, but we don’t want to be left behind” situation? ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

Carlsberg A/S: Supplier & licensee Code of Conduct 
MarketScreener Blog; by the Carlsberg Group; 1/28/25 
... As a UN Global Compact signatory, we are committed to its four pillars: human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. The Code aligns with international standards, such as the UN Global Compact's Ten Principles, the Base Code of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), the principles of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and ISO 14001. [Click on the title's link for the sample "Code of Conduct."]
Editor's note: What ethics policies do you have in place for the suppliers and other vendors with whom you partner? How does this sample Code of Conduct align--or not--with your organization's ethics and conduct?

The road to success is always under construction. ~ Lily Tomlin