Literature Review

Honoring the life of Dr. Balfour Mount[Obituary link will be shared when available]; Ira Byock; 9/28/25Dr. Balfour Mount died on September 25th in Montreal. Dr. Mount was one of the true founders of the field of hospice and palliative care. After his own experience with testicular cancer as a young man, he trained as a urologic oncologist. Early in his clinical career, Dr. Mount became aware of Dr. Cicely Saunders’ development of hospice in England. He visited St. Christopher’s to learn from Dr. Saunders and brought back the concept of hospice care to McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He coined “palliative care” as a more acceptable term to French speaking Quebec. He went on to develop Palliative Care McGill, the first academic palliative care program in North America. He directed this clinical and research program for decades. Dr. Mount’s prolific writings and compelling lectures on care of people with life-limiting conditions helped spark the nascent field. He served on the Board of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Mount mentored many of the next generation of leaders of the field. It is a fitting culmination of his life-long work that he was cared for in the final days of life in the palliative care unit of the McGill’s Royal Victoria Hospital that he developed and led for many years.Guest Editor’s Note: As a physician-in-training in the mid-1970s, Balfour Mount’s articles on care of dying people electrified me. He was one of the very few physicians who was articulating both the need and explaining how to care well for dying patients. I had the privilege of becoming one of his mentees and of having Bal as a friend for many years. He was a truly remarkable man who leaves a legacy that we are all continuing to fulfill.

Virtual visits boost hospice home care services across Dallas-Fort Worth area The Smithfield Times, Aubrey, TX; Press Services; 9/26/25 Sovereign Hospice in Aubrey, TX, explains how telehealth and virtual visits help patients and families get hospice home care services faster. In the Dallas–Fort Worth area, these tools let nurses and doctors check patients quickly and answer questions without delay. Families far away can also join care meetings by video, making them part of the journey and improving understanding of the services the hospice offers.

Adobe Population Health expands footprint through acquisition of clinical programs from MedZed Physician Services Adobe Population Health; by PRNewswire/PRWeb; 9/26/25 Adobe Population Health, an innovative care management company, proudly announces the acquisition from MedZed Physician Services of certain assets related to MedZed Physician Services' California based In-Home Primary Care and Palliative Care services. The acquisition of such assets, contracts, and employees supports Adobe's expansion into California, reinforcing Adobe's commitment to closing care gaps and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable populations. Adobe Population Health offers proactive care management services through a tech-enabled, hybrid care model delivering whole-person care.

Shepherd’s Cove helps students cope with loss Messenger, Gadsden, AL; by Karla McArthur; 9/25/25 ... “When people think of Shepherd’s Cove, they think of a hospice facility, which is accurate but not the complete picture,” Smothers said. “They don’t necessarily connect the grief support with the hospice services.” The nonprofit’s hospice facility serves nine counties, but its in-school bereavement program currently reaches only four. Portions of Etowah County are included, allowing counselors to support students at several schools, including West End, Duck Springs, Highland, Sardis-area campuses and Attalla City schools. Smothers said the goal is to expand as more staff are added. A team of four social workers provides monthly counseling for students in grades K-12 who have experienced a loss. The loss does not have to be recent. “We operate under the precept that grief doesn’t have a timeline,” Smothers said. 

Heart to Heart Hospice expands service in Southern Indiana The LaGrange Daily News, Plano, TX; by PR Newswire; 9/25/25 Heart to Heart Hospice, one of the country's largest private providers of hospice care, has expanded its service area in southern Indiana with the recent opening of a new location in Corydon to meet needs in six additional counties. The new site is now serving patients and families residing in the counties of Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Jefferson, Scott, and Washington. 

Telehealth services on the brink again – Is a 7-week stopgap the only fix? The National Law Review; by Danielle H. Tangorre, Conor O. Duffy of Robinson & Cole LLP; 9/26/25 Healthcare providers are again confronted with the potential termination of telehealth services unless Congress acts to extend the Medicare flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. If no legislative action is taken before September 30, 2025, those providers and patients who have depended on expanded telehealth options will encounter substantial limitations in access beginning October 1, 2025. ... A summary of the existing telehealth waivers and their newly proposed expiration dates is included below. ...

Hospice, palliative care services yield high quality, cost savings Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 9/22/25 Hospice and palliative care services can result in better outcomes and reduced costs, recent research has found. A recent study by Empassion Health examined 45,957 seriously ill patients receiving supportive care through the organization from January 2023 to April 2025. The study found a 35% reduction in total cost of care per patient during the final year of life when compared to other individuals. ... The Empassion Health study’s key findings include:

Emotional analytics in HRtech: Measuring mood, motivation, and morale HRTechSeries; by HRTech Staff Writer; 9/22/25 ... What is emotional analytics in HR?... Emotional analytics is a new field in HRtech that combines psychology, data science, and organizational strategy. It gives HR a real-time view of how employees are feeling, unlike traditional surveys that only give a static picture. ... Emotional analytics is the process of gathering and analyzing information about how employees are feeling. This means figuring out mood patterns, stress levels, trust in leadership, and team or department morale. ... For instance, a quarterly survey might not show how worried the workers are right away after a big change in the organization. Real-time sentiment tracking, on the other hand, can let HR leaders know when stress levels are rising within days. This lets them offer proactive support like counseling sessions, open communication, or changes to workloads. ...

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.

The Denver Hospice and Colorado Visiting Nurse Association announce Ben Marcantonio as new President The Denver Hospice; by CS Master Admin; 9/23/25 Tim Bowen, President and CEO of Care Synergy, along with The Denver Hospice and Colorado Visiting Nurse Association (CVNA) Boards of Directors, are pleased to announce that Ben Marcantonio has been selected as the new President of The Denver Hospice and Colorado Visiting Nurse Asssociation. Marcantonio brings more than 40 years of leadership experience in healthcare, education, and social service organizations. Most recently, he served as Chief Integration Officer for the National Alliance for Care at Home, where he was responsible for integrating operational processes, systems, and departments of two national associations into one unified organization. ... Earlier in his career, Marcantonio was President and CEO of Hospice of the Chesapeake in Maryland, where he successfully expanded access to care, increased financial stability, and strengthened community-based palliative care services. He also served in leadership positions at San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine, Scripps Health, and Charter Hospital, and began his career in educational leadership with the Diocese of San Diego.

Hospice Research Information 9/20/25

[Canada] Availability of respite care almost triples a palliative care patient’s chance of dying at home EurekAlert! - AAAS; News Release by McGill University; 9/22/25 Access to respite services for family caregivers increases a palliative care patient’s probability of dying at home almost threefold, according to a McGill University-led study. Previous surveys suggest most Canadians with a serious illness would prefer to spend the end of their lives at home. ... Funded by Quebec’s health ministry as part of its action plan for equitable access to quality palliative and end-of-life care, the study set out to find which factors matter most in helping patients avoid a transfer to a hospital or palliative care centre in their final days. Respite care – professional help that allows family caregivers to take short breaks –emerged as the strongest predictor, with patients 2.7 times more likely to die at home when it was available.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.