Literature Review

UGA Disaster Management Institute awarded $3.7M for rural facility resilience Valdosta Today, Valdosta, GA and Athens, GA; Press Release; 9/28/26 The University of Georgia Institute for Disaster Management has been awarded $3.735 million to help harden rural hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and in-patient hospice in Georgia against disasters. Through the Rural Health Transformation Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is investing in rural health initiatives across the country. This nationwide initiative includes state-specific programs, including Georgia’s Rural Enhancement and Transformation of Health or GREAT Health Program, led by the Georgia Department of Community Health and supported by CMS.

Dr. Martin McCormack: The healthcare leader connecting education, governance and a safer world Global Healthcare Magazine; September 2026 issue Long before he held a title [Chief Executive Officer of the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland], ... Dr. Martin McCormack sat with families in the hardest hours of their lives, [as a palliative care physician, trauma counselor with patients and families in intensive care, supervising a team of 36 medical social workers, developing bereavement services. ... He measures his own leadership less by what has been delivered in any one period than by the capability it leaves behind. ... Dr. McCormack has been asking some version of the same question that has remained consistent throughout his career: What does this person need from the system around them, and how do we build it so it holds?

Industry veteran launches ServingOverSelling movement to encourage health systems to curb promotional marketing News Chief, Minneapolis, MN; Press Release; 9/27/26 Chris Bevolo, former healthcare marketing agency owner, CEO and author of seven books calls on health systems to redirect money from self-promotion. One year after retiring from a 25-year health system marketing career, industry veteran Chris Bevolo has launched ServingOverSelling, a movement that encourages health systems to reallocate their promotional marketing spend and instead put those resources, energy and focus of those institutions back where they belong: on helping the people they exist to serve. The initiative, launched during the 2026 Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development 2026 Connections Annual Conference, already has a number of signatories to the movement’s pledge for health system marketing leaders to reallocate their promotional marketing spend in whatever way possible.

EvergreenHealth receives transformative $100M gift from Dean Weidner The Bee, Kirkland, WA; Press Release; 9/28/26 EvergreenHealth has received a philanthropic gift of $100 million from Dean Weidner—the largest gift in the community-owned hospital’s history. This transformative donation helps accelerate EvergreenHealth’s plans to advance high-quality health care in the community with expanded access and increased capacity for generations to come. The gift honors the legacy of Dean Weidner and his wife, Ana, both dedicated philanthropists and advocates for EvergreenHealth’s mission to advance the health of the community through safe, compassionate, cost-effective health care. ...EvergreenHealth is two-hospital health system with a network of primary care practices, urgent care centers, specialty clinics, extensive home care and hospice services, and 24/7 emergency care in Kirkland, Monroe and Redmond.

4th Annual Walk for Hospice raises over $75,000 for the Aroostook House of Comfort The County, Caribou, ME; 9/25/26The Aroostook Hospice Foundation held its 4th Annual Walk for Hospice on Saturday, Sept. 19 at the Caribou High School Track & Trails, bringing together over 442 participants and 31 teams and raising more than $75,000 in support of the Aroostook House of Comfort. The annual walk brings the community together to raise funds and awareness while remembering and celebrating the lives of those touched by hospice care. This year marked the largest Walk for Hospice to date. 

Si puedes recordarme, siempre estaré contigo. / If you can remember me, I will be with you always.Isabel AllendeHonoring Hispanic Heritage Month

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NIH grant advances research on palliative care at home Indiana University School of Nursing; by Glenda Shaw; 9/23/26 ... A new research project led by Indiana University School of Nursing assistant professor Lyndsay DeGroot, PhD, RN, aims to bring palliative care directly to patients in their homes through a telephone-based program that could make supportive care more accessible for people living with serious chronic illness. To support this work, DeGroot has received a NIH-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) five-year K23 Career Development Award totaling $916,000. The award will fund her project, “Implementing Community-Based Palliative Care for Adults with Heart Failure or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.”

A new way to measure nursing productivity: Total labor cost per admission HFMA - Health Operations Management; by Sylvain Trepanier, DNP, RN, CENP and Cynthia Salisbury, MSN, RN, NEA-BC; 9/25/26An innovative model for measuring nurse productivity better accounts for patients’ care needs and the team-based nature of nursing care. ... Leaders at Providence [a large regional health system based in Renton, Washington] decided it was important to create space for nurses to define for themselves how to deliver care most effectively in the acute care setting. Nurses were invited to deconstruct their current role and create a new model of care based on the needs of their patients, with an appropriate distribution of patient care across a collaborative team.

Hospice industry generates $142 million in economic activity [in Puerto Rico] W Journal; by Newsroom; 9/24/26 Puerto Rico’s hospice industry generates an estimated $142 million in economic activity, supports approximately 1,417 jobs and produces nearly $48 million in annual payroll, according to a new study by Estudios Técnicos Inc. (ETI). Commissioned by Grace Health Puerto Rico, the study examines the industry’s economic impact and the potential cost benefits of hospice care compared with more intensive forms of end-of-life treatment. ... “The findings demonstrate that hospice services generate not only economic benefits, but also important social benefits for patients and their families,” said Anitza Cox Marrero, director of ETI’s Social Analysis Division.

CMS expands the ACCESS Model: new tracks for heart failure, COPD, substance use disorders, tobacco cessation, and extended MSK support Foley Hoag; 9/21/26 Key Takeaways:

Sen. Baldwin demands investigation into veteran care failures at Tomah VAWXOW-19 ABC, Tomah, WI; by Terry Bell; 9/21/26 U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is calling for an immediate investigation into serious allegations about the failure to care for veterans and unacceptable conditions at the Tomah VA Medical Center. Baldwin is asking Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to conduct a full review of staffing levels, provider coverage, medication delays, hospice care and patient safety at the Tomah VA Hospital. She's also requesting the VA Office of the Inspector General conduct an independent investigation. Baldwin's office heard from several Tomah VA employees who outlined severe lapses in patient care at the hospital. The allegations include inadequate staffing contributing to falls, injuries, food choking incidents and other adverse patient outcomes. [View recent incident:  Former VA nurse charged with intentionally abusing hospice patient]