Literature Review

The best, worst states for Medicare: ReportBecker's Payer Issues; by Elizabeth Casolo; 10/16/25Vermont, Utah and Minnesota topped the Commonwealth Fund’s Medicare performance scorecard in 2025, whereas Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana struggled the most. The healthcare research foundation evaluated states on criteria spanning four domains: access to care, quality of care, costs and affordability, and population health. These performance indicators draw from CMS, federal surveys and other public data sources. The Commonwealth Fund ranked states according to how well Medicare was working based on those indicators. The organization mostly reviewed data from 2023 through 2025.

Hospice exec evaluates possible ‘path forward’ for MA hospice carve-inMcKnight's Newsmakers Podcast; by Liza Berger, Joe Shega; 10/15/25The so-called “carve-in” failed when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services halted the hospice portion of the Value-Based Insurance Design program last year. And just last month, providers were speaking out against the carve-in to lawmakers at the annual fly-in for the National Alliance for Care at Home. But the two value-based care programs — hospice and MA — are not necessarily incompatible, according to Joe Shega, MD, chief medical officer for hospice provider VITAS Healthcare. As long as all the stakeholders agree about the parameters — that benefits remain intact, that there is no delay in access — there can be a “path forward” for hospice to be part of the MA benefit, he told McKnight’s Home Care in a Newsmakers podcast.

When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure. ~Viktor Frankl

Providence, Humana partner on data exchange for value-based careBecker's IT Health; by Giles Bruce; 10/20/25Renton, Wash.-based Providence and Humana are collaborating on a new data exchange model to boost value-based care. The 51-hospital system and payer giant say they plan to go live in October with automated member attribution for Humana Medicare Advantage members before expanding into other data exchange functions to reduce administrative burden and elevate clinical decision-making. They hope their efforts will serve as models for providers and payers across the country.Publisher's note: An interesting model for partnering on data exchange. How might hospices pursue similar collaborations?

How Optum’s Amedisys deal could shake up the hospice marketHospice News; by Jim Parker; 10/21/25The acquisition of the home health and hospice provider Amedisys by the insurance mammoth UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) has far-reaching implications for the hospice community. The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum, in June 2023 inked its agreement to acquire Amedisys in an all-cash transaction of $101 per share, or about $3.3 billion. After leaping a series of regulatory hurdles, including a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit, the deal closed in mid-August... The merger likely makes UnitedHealth Group one of the largest hospice providers in the United States.

Why doctors hesitate to say ‘I'm sorry’ after errorsMedscape; by Paolo Spriano; 10/17/25Apologies are commonly defined as “a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure; a formal, public statement of regret.” In healthcare, apologies offered with honesty and transparency are an essential part of addressing medical errors. An effective apology acknowledges what happened, accepts responsibility, and expresses sincere regret for the patient’s suffering. When done properly, an apology can have profound healing effects for everyone involved. For clinicians, it can help ease feelings of guilt and shame; for patients, it can foster forgiveness and form the basis for reconciliation.

55% of healthcare executives plan to change roles within 3 years: SurveyBecker's Hospital Review; by Kristin Kuchno; 10/17/25More than half of healthcare executives plan to leave their roles within the next three years, according to a report from LHH, an executive search firm. Here are six more things to know from two 2025 surveys...

Lancaster woman sentenced to home detention for role in hospice fraud MSN, Lancaster, CA; 10/16/25 A Lancaster woman was ordered Wednesday [10/15] to serve 12 months of home detention and pay a $100,000 fine for her role in a hospice fraud scheme that netted more than $3.2 million from Medicare. Callie Jean Black, 66, was convicted in March at the conclusion of a four-day bench trial in Los Angeles federal court of four counts of soliciting and receiving remunerations for patient referrals, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Why caring for a parent is hard for doctors MedPage Today's KevinMD.com; by Barbara Sparacino, MD; 10/19/25 I can sit with patients and families and talk about hospice, dementia, or end-of-life care without hesitation. Years of training as a physician and geriatric psychiatrist have prepared me for those conversations. But when my own parent needed care, all that training suddenly felt useless. Medical knowledge didn’t shield me from fear or guilt. It didn’t stop the second-guessing that came with every decision. It didn’t help me navigate the family disagreements about “what Mom would have wanted.” In that moment, I wasn’t the physician. I was the daughter, and that was far more complicated. Why caring for our parents feels different ...

GeriPal Live! at NPCRC Foley Retreat: Dio Kavalieratos, Prasanna Ananth, Alexi WrightGeriPal podcast; by Eric Widera, Alex Smith, Dio Kavalieratos, Prasanna Ananth, Alexi Wright; 10/16/25Today we join you from beautiful Banff, Alberta, Canada at the National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC) annual Kathleen Foley retreat... On today’s podcast, we invited Dio Kavalieratos, Prasanna Ananth, and Alexi Wright to join us to talk about three articles that spoke to them. Prasanna chose an article by Abby Rosenberg about being fired in palliative care... Dio chose an article about the economic benefits of palliative care internationally, a call to action... Alexi chose an article about cancer care in prison.

An age-old fear grows more common: ‘I’m going to die alone’ Miami Herald; by Judith Graham, Kaiser Health News; 10/17/25 This summer, at dinner with her best friend, Jacki Barden raised an uncomfortable topic: the possibility that she might die alone. “I have no children, no husband, no siblings,” Barden remembered saying. “Who’s going to hold my hand while I die?” ... It’s something that many older adults who live alone — a growing population, more than 16 million strong in 2023 — wonder about. ... More than 15 million people 55 or older don’t have a spouse or biological children; nearly 2 million have no family members at all.