Literature Review

AGG talks: Home health & hospice podcast - Episode 10: Anti-Kickback Compliance for hospice and skilled nursing providers JD Supra; by Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP; 4/3/25 In this episode, AGG Healthcare attorneys Bill Dombi and Jason Bring discuss recent OIG guidance on hospice and skilled nursing facility relationships, focusing on anti-kickback risks and fraud concerns. They cover key issues such as the importance of documenting fair market value for any services or space provided, being cautious of payments exceeding Medicaid room and board rates, and avoiding arrangements that appear to be made solely to secure referrals. Bill and Jason also touch on increased oversight and enforcement in the healthcare sector under a new presidential administration.

Not everything that can be counted counts.Not everything that counts can be counted.~ by William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)Quote used by Dr. Bill Hoy 4/5/25 as a keynote for the 2025 Association for Death Education and Counseling Conference (ADEC). Dr. Hoy is a faithful reader of this newsletter. Thanks, Bill!

7 common transformation mistakes and how to avoid them CIO; by Patrizia Licata; 4/3/25 Just because technology solutions are readily available doesn’t mean transformation will automatically succeed. ... Knowing what’s at stake, here are some key mistakes and misconceptions to avoid in order to help ensure digital transformation success.

National Healthcare Decisions Week highlights the importance of Advance Care Planning JAX Chamber - Jacksonville News, Jacksonville, FL; 4/1/25 National Healthcare Decisions Week kicks off on April 14, 2025, with a nationwide effort to raise awareness about the importance of advance healthcare decision-making. This initiative encourages individuals to take proactive steps in planning for their future healthcare needs. Through various events and resources, the week aims to promote thoughtful conversations about healthcare decisions and the completion of advance directives to ensure patients' wishes are known and respected. ... For more information about National Healthcare Decision Day, please visit http://nhdd.org.

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ~ Michael Jordan

Niagara Hospice to offer free community presentation for National Healthcare Decisions Day Niagara Frontier Publications; Press Release; 3/28/25 April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day, which is a day set aside to educate and empower individuals to discuss and document their end-of-life health care wishes. Niagara Hospice invites the community to attend the free presentation, “Advance Care Planning: Advance Directives for Health Care,” ... Advance care planning includes advance directives like health care proxies, do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, and living wills. Advance directives help to ensure end-of-life care wishes are followed if one is unable to make necessary decisions for themselves. [Continue reading ...]Editor's note: For more information about National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD), explor The Conversation Project, at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Is your hospice providing a 2025 National Healthcare Decisions Day event? Email me a URL link to your local news coverage, press release, or your website's specific page. We will compile a list of participating organizations (with URL links) to highlight Advance Care Planning outreach, education, and implementation across the nation.

Transforming healthcare: Hospice in the news, March 2025  Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); pod/videocast by Chris Comeaux with Cordt Kassner; 4/2/25 In this episode of TCNtalks, Chris Comeaux and Dr. Cordt Kassner, Publisher of Hospice & Palliative Care Today and CEO and Founder of Hospice Analytics, leverage their data and extensive experience to identify key Hospice headlines, articles, research, and social media posts that are driving change and transforming end-of-life care and healthcare in America. They share personal experiences with hospice care, emphasizing the importance of social work and discussing the challenges of healthcare reimbursement.  The conversation also touches on MedPAC recommendations, new social media trends, and highlights from recent research articles. 

‘Unsung backbone of care delivery’: The growing need for hospice aides Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 3/28/25 As workforce shortages persist in health care, some operators are struggling to recruit and retain essential members of their care teams — hospice aides. The demand for hospice aides is expected to grow in the coming years. However, factors such as turnover, retirement, slow wage growth and immigration policy could complicate hospice’s ability to fill those positions. Many companies are focused on bolstering their nursing workforce, who are also in high demand, but providers also need to prioritize hiring a sufficient number of aides, according to Cooper Linton, associate vice president of Duke HomeCare & Hospice. [Continue reading ...] 

What to know about palliative and hospice care Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ); by Liz Seegert; 3/28/25 ... [Palliative care] is fundamental to health and human dignity and is a basic human right, according to the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard.  When reporting on serious illnesses, journalists can help demystify palliative care and encourage more people in need to take advantage of it by clearly explaining the differences, and benefits, and incorporating anecdotes to further illustrate how these types of care make a difference in the lives of patients and their families. [Continue reading ...] Editor's note: Share this article--written for health care journalists--with your communications and marketing leadership, with your community newspapers' journalists, and your employee/volunteer educators. Too often, new hospice/palliative care employees at all levels of roles and responsibilities begin their roles without clear knowledge, comprehension, and application of distinctions between standard healthcare, palliative care, and hospice care. And for new employees (especially non-clinical leaders), information must be applied to that person's specific role and responsibilities. 

Today is the National Vietnam War Veterans Day, honoring 50 years since the war's end U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs - The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration Join us on 29 March, National Vietnam War Veterans Day, as Americans unite to thank and honor Vietnam veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice. ... The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration honors all veterans who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces at any time from November 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975, regardless of location, and their families. Editor's note: Several hospice "We Honor Veterans" programs have been using this commemoration to thank their community's Vietnam veterans, especially in light of differences between their returns home from those of WWII veterans. Within your networks of colleagues, friends and families, whom can you informally honor, today?

Executive Personnel Changes - 4/4/25 Count

Interprofessional advance care planning to enhance end-of-life care: A community assessmentCreighton Journal of Collaborative Practice and Education; Meghan Potthoff, Amanda Kirkpatrick, Jenny Jessen, Cathy Fox, Victoria Haneman, Megan Piotrowski, Beatriz Rodriguez, Sydney Langlois; 3/25Lawyers and financial planners are more often sought for estate directives than primary care providers for end-of life planning. Lack of role clarity and divergent views about advance care planning (ACP) responsibility among healthcare providers lead to further delay of these important discussions. A qualitative, exploratory design was employed to investigate ACP understanding, barriers, and needs among aging Nebraskans and Omaha-metro community agencies that serve these consumers. Conclusions: Improved ACP discussions are needed for supporting value-aligned end-of-life care by educating aging adults about, and documenting their wishes for, life-sustaining treatments and other decisions surrounding death. Enhanced role clarity, increased competence, and a collaborative approach are needed among interprofessional team members involved to improve these end-of-life discussions.