Literature Review

Serious illness has mental health implications — palliative care can help Becker's Behavioral Health; by Dr. Simeon Kwan and Dr. Rowland Pearsall; 6/12/25 ... As health plans and providers strive to deliver whole-person, value-based care, we must recognize that treating the body is only part of the equation. Mental and emotional well-being are critical dimensions of serious illness, and they demand more focused attention. Fortunately, we have a powerful but often underutilized ally: palliative care. ... According to multiple studies, up to 40% of patients with advanced cancer experience clinical depression. Anxiety and spiritual distress are also common, particularly when facing the unknown or confronting the loss of autonomy. For those managing progressive illnesses over time, mental health concerns can erode treatment adherence, accelerate physical decline, and strain family caregivers.

Worthington man carves wooden hearts for hospice patients KELO Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls, SD; by Tom Hanson; 6/12/25 In a world often defined by fast-paced living, some people choose a slower, more meaningful path—quietly making a difference. Inside his garage, Joel Krekelberg is hard at work. He is making small wooden hearts. He gives them to people hoping to give them comfort, or inspiration, or just a warm feeling. For Krekelberg, the process of making the hearts is special. For him, with the headphones and a mask, it’s peaceful.

Caring for Gladine: A Las Cruces man's account of caregiving for his wife with dementia Las Cruces Sun News; by Leah Romero; 6/10/25 When Gladine Lindly was diagnosed with dementia in 2018, she and her husband Steve Gaskell decided to manage at home. But as Lindly’s dementia progressed, Gaskell quickly realized he needed help taking care of her. ... “She said, ‘I want you to be my caregiver. ... I don’t want to go into a home or facility,’” Glaskell recalled. “I proceeded to walk into the doors of Home Instead to apply for a job because I wanted to learn how to be a caregiver. Never done anything like that before.” ...  By September 2024, Lindly ... was placed on hospice care. By December, the hospice nurse told Gaskell it was time for family and friends to start saying their goodbyes.  ... [Gaskell described her death,] "And it was as peaceful as you can imagine. And that was…this sounds crazy to say, but that was probably the easiest part of the whole process.” Lindly passed on Jan. 7, 2025 at the age of 77. [Go to the source article for more of this inspiring story about caregiving through dementia.]

Summerlin Hospice and Palliative Care transforms hospice care in Las Vegas with comprehensive in-home services East Coastsentinel; Press Release; 6/8/25 The healthcare industry is experiencing significant advancements as Summerlin Hospice and Palliative Care announces the expansion of comprehensive services that redefine compassionate end-of-life care throughout Nevada. ... The in-home care model provides comprehensive medical oversight, including pain management, regular health assessments, and specialized medical testing, all administered by trained healthcare professionals. This approach to hospice allows families to remain together while receiving the highest quality medical attention and emotional support throughout the care process.

Cleveland Clinic virtual care service expands throughout US Becker's Health IT; by Giles Bruce; 6/4/25 The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic, a virtual second opinion service, is expanding its licensure to thousands of additional providers across the nation. The Clinic partnered with credentialing company Baton Health to grow its provider licenses to more than 10,000, spanning the entire country. The Clinic, a joint venture between Cleveland Clinic and telehealth company Amwell, offers quick access to physicians and subspecialists for virtual second opinions. 

Longtime Fargo-based hospice service has new name Fargo Forum, Fargo, ND; Press Release; 6/9/25 Hospice of the Red River Valley, which has had a presence in the region for decades, is now called HIA Hospice. Editor's note: The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Click here for more from HIA Health's website.

Executive Personnel Changes - 6/6/25

NPHI proud to announce its partnership on the upcoming documentary for PBS, Caregiving, from Executive Producer Bradley Cooper National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), Washington, DC; 5/19/25 The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) is proud to announce its partnership on the upcoming PBS documentary Caregiving, a powerful new film executive produced by Academy Award-nominated actor, director, and producer Bradley Cooper. Created in collaboration with Cooper’s production company, Lea Pictures, as well as WETA Washington, D.C., and Ark Media, Caregiving will shine a national spotlight on the often unseen yet essential work of caregivers across the country. NPHI is honored to serve as a national partner on this important project. Narrated by Uzo Aduba (The Residence, Orange Is the New Black) and directed by Chris Durrance, Caregiving intertwines deeply personal stories of caregivers with the untold history of the American care system. The documentary examines how caregivers—often family members, friends, and frontline professionals—navigate the immense challenges and unseen achievements of their roles.

A strategic path forward for hospice and palliative care: A white paper on the potential future of the fieldPalliative Medicine Reports; by Ira Byock; 6/5/25The field of hospice and palliative care in the United States is experiencing serious problems and faces an uncertain future. Quality of hospice care is highly variable. Unethical hospice business practices are common in some regions. Palliative care’s integration within American health care has stalled, despite demonstrating that much better care for seriously ill and dying people is both feasible and affordable... Efforts must start with zero tolerance of fraudulent business and clinical practices that harm vulnerable patients. The four components of this strategic approach are:

I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war. ~George W. Bush

A sampling of four apps for grieving usersJournal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries; Danielle Becker; 5/25 Users experiencing grief tend to find themselves on a lonely journey. Integrating multiple approaches to facilitate this journey can help users through the grieving process. Utilizing the unique features of Mobile Apps gives users a private and personal space to explore their feelings and gain insights into the grieving process. In some cases, they provide an opportunity to work one-on-one with therapists and find community with other users who are also working through their grief. Mobile apps can provide information and combat the loneliness common in grief experiences while also providing emotional support.

"Less words, more pictures": creating and sharing data visualizations from a remote health monitoring system with clinicians to improve cancer pain management Frontiers in Digital Health; by Virginia LeBaron, Natalie Crimp, Nutta Homdee, Kelly Reed, Victoria Petermann, William Ashe, Leslie Blackhall, Bryan Lewis; 4/23/25 Background: The Behavioral and Environmental Sensing and Intervention for Cancer (BESI-C) is a remote health monitoring system (RHMS) developed by our interdisciplinary team that collects holistic physiological, behavioral, psychosocial, and contextual data related to pain from dyads of patients with cancer and their family caregivers via environmental and wearable (smartwatch) sensors. Conclusion: Clinicians desired higher-level (i.e., less granular/detailed) views of complex sensing data with a "take home" message that can be quickly processed. ... integrating these data into clinical workflows is critical to ensure these types of data can optimally inform the patient's plan of care. Future work should focus on customizing data visualization formats and viewing options, as well as explore ethical issues related to sharing data visualizations with key stakeholders.

Dementia severity associated with unmet caregiving needs during skilled home health careJournal of Applied Gerontology; Julia G. Burgdorf, Jennifer L. Wolff, Yolanda Barrón, Halima Amjad; 5/25One-third of home health care (HHC) patients have dementia. We examined 426,608 older (65+) HHC patients with dementia in 2018. Unmet caregiving needs were determined from HHC clinician reports indicating that (1) no caregiver was present (lack of availability) or (2) the caregiver needed training (lack of capacity). Most (83%) HHC patients with dementia experienced an unmet need for caregiving. Medicaid enrollment and depression were associated with lack of caregiver availability; greater clinical severity and being post-acute were associated with lack of caregiver capacity. Patients with high (compared to low) cognitive symptom severity had higher odds of unmet needs due to lack of caregiver capacity ... Findings illustrate the gap between dementia caregiving needs and capacity, highlighting the importance of supportive resources such as training.