Literature Review

COUNTDOWN: 11 Days Until HOPE Tool Starts, October 1, 2025 

Copyright and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Copyright.gov, Washington, DC; by the U.S. Copyright Office; retrieved from the internet 9/16/25 Copyright and Artificial Intelligence analyzes copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI). This Report is being issued in several Parts. Part 1 was published on July 31, 2024, and addresses the topic of digital replicas. Part 2 was published on January 29, 2025, and addresses the copyrightability of outputs created using generative AI. On May 9, 2025, the Office released a pre-publication version of Part 3 in response to congressional inquiries and expressions of interest from stakeholders. A final version of Part 3 will be published in the future, without any substantive changes expected in the analysis or conclusions.Editor's Note: Any use of AI requires adherence to copyright laws and policy issues. What are these and how do they impact your organization? 

Study finds hospice providers “game” Medicare Payment Cap, but with modest impact on costs Penn LDI - Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics; by Julia Hinkcley, JD; 9/16/25 ... Each year, about half of Medicare beneficiaries who die receive hospice services. A new study by LDI Senior Fellow and Director of Research Norma Coe and her colleague David Rosenkranz shows that some hospice agency decision-making may be intended to increase payments by undercutting the annual revenue cap that Medicare imposes. But this “gaming” of the payment rules creates only modest increases in both hospice enrollment and spending. The study’s findings also support MedPAC’s view that wage index-adjusting the cap could make it more equitable across hospice programs, but the authors caution that the MedPAC proposal to reduce the cap by 20 percent might lead some hospice providers to close, and therefore requires more analysis.

Assisted dying in practice: International experiences and implications for health and social care ehospice; full report by Sarah Scobie, Rachel Hutchings, Miranda Davies, Stephanie Kumpunen and Sarah Reed; 9/15/25 Exploring 15 jurisdictions across the world, this is the most detailed look to date at what the UK can learn from other countries as the UK and Scottish Parliaments debate bills to legalise assisted dying and potentially set up assisted dying services. ... The Nuffield Trust holds a neutral position on the ethical question of whether or not assisted dying should be legalised, for whom, and in what circumstances. We are committed to identifying evidence to support decision-makers in understanding the effects that legalisation may have. 

Morphine shortage impacts Massachusetts patients, hospice care and pharmacies GBH; by Marilyn Schairer; 9/16/25 Pharmacists and hospice care providers in Massachusetts say the industry is experiencing a shortage of morphine, a powerful prescription opioid painkiller. And while the causes of the shortage are unknown, it’s already affecting people who use the drug to treat severe pain, including cancer patients and people in hospice care. “There is a shortage,” said Dina Breger, pharmacy manager at Greater Boston Long Term Care Pharmacy in Walpole. She said it’s been at least a few weeks since the pharmacy was able to get morphine to patients that need it. Guest Editor's Note, by Drew Mihalyo, PharmD: Massachusetts’ morphine shortage highlights a worsening national crisis. These shortages stem from multiple factors—from DEA production quotas (with 2026 levels expected next week) to fragile supply chains and thin profit margins that discourage manufacturing. Without strong pre-arranged access systems, even hospice and cancer patients can be left without essential pain relief. Healthcare is not just about treatment—it’s about preserving dignity for those who need us most. Fixing this requires systemic change: national reserves, better incentives to sustain production, and stronger oversight—transparency in manufacturing, smarter quota setting, and rapid-response mechanisms to ensure patients are never left without care at the end of life.

An organ donor saved my life. But fear of unlikely botched donations hurts others.  USA Today; by Kaitlyn Wells; 9/18/25 As someone who is alive today because of an organ donation, I was alarmed by the news that Donate Life America, a nonprofit that oversees a national registry of organ donors, saw a 700% increase in donor registration withdrawals since July. That startling drop in donors followed reporting by The New York Times offering horrifying details of how in extremely rare instances, teams rushed to secure organs from patients who still showed a flicker of life. 

[United Kingdom] Guided by empathy: How smart hospitals innovate while staying patient-centric Forrester, United Kingdom; by Shannon Germain Farraher; 9/15/25 My Visit To A Smart Hospital As a former practicing clinician, I’ve walked the halls of many hospitals — but none quite like Baden Cantonal Hospital (KSB) in Switzerland. During my recent visit, I saw firsthand how KSB is changing the narrative as it transforms into an intelligent healthcare organization (IHO). Built over a decade, the facility consolidated 13 floors of operations into three, creating a streamlined, digitally enabled environment that redefines what modern care delivery can look like. Here are some of the things that stood out to me:

A nurse’s journey through advanced breast cancer: Michele’s invasive ductal carcinoma Stage 4 diagnosis Norton Healthcare, Paducah, KY; by Sara Thompson; 9/15/25 When Paducah, Kentucky, native Michele Burgess received her Stage 4 invasive ductal carcinoma diagnosis Feb. 6, 2020, she faced the advanced breast cancer the same way she approaches everything in life — head on. As a nurse manager for an inpatient hospice unit, Michele had spent years caring for others in their most vulnerable moments. Now, she would draw on that same strength for her own battle. ... Most people expected Michele to step away from her demanding career after her cancer diagnosis. After all, working in hospice while fighting breast cancer seemed like an impossible burden. But Michele saw it differently. “Why wouldn’t I continue?” she asked herself. Her work gave her purpose, and her 10-bed inpatient unit needed her steady leadership. ...

A natural segue: Retired hospice physician Ralph Caldroney ’72 turns a planned gift into immediate impact with new lecture sponsorship W&L - The Columns, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA; by Barbara Elliott; 9/15/25 [Dr. Ralph Caldrony, retired medical director for Hospice of Rockbridge County,] attended several Mudd Center lectures during this past year’s series: “How We Live and Die: Stories, Values and Communities.” ... Impressed by the range and quality of the Mudd Center presentations [at Washington & Lee University], Caldroney previously committed a $250,000 planned gift to the center for his 50th reunion gift in 2022. However, after such a positive experience attending this year’s lecture series, he decided to fast-track his support. For each of the next five years, his $5,000 per-year gift will sponsor an annual lecture. “It was a natural segue,” Caldroney says. “This way, I can enjoy some of the fruits of my labor while I am still alive.”

COUNTDOWN: 12 Days Until HOPE Tool Starts, October 1, 2025 

I have learned that the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person. ~ Andy Rooney

How does CEO tenure in healthcare compare to other industries? Becker's Hospital Review; by Kristin Kuchno; 9/9/25 The average tenure of healthcare CEOs is slightly shorter than the average across industries, according to a recent report from executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates. Healthcare CEOs serve an average tenure of 7.3 years, compared to 7.5 years across industries. In 2024, the average tenure for healthcare CEOs was 7.6 years, compared to an average of 7.4 years across industries. Crist Kolder’s annual report tracks C-suite turnover among 667 companies in the Fortune 500 and S&P 500, 9.7% of which operate in the healthcare sector. Here are the average CEO tenures across industries included in the report: ...