Literature Review

Community invited to see Edina Thespians' one-act play, 'Wit' Sun Current, Coon Rapids, MN; by Alex Kautzman; 1/20/25Edina High School Thespians are ... looking forward to showing off their hard work to the community in two performances at the Edina Performing Arts Center. ... "Wit" centers on Vivian Bearing, a brilliant poetry professor, as she undergoes an experimental and extremely aggressive chemotherapy treatment. As Vivian undergoes treatment at the hands of impersonal doctors, she discovers that human compassion may be more important than intellectual wit.Editor's note: This Wit telepay is based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Margaret Edson. Its 2001 television drama film was directed by Mike Nichols, written by and starring Emma Thompson. Wit has been used extensively for community and clinical education, fostering conversations about ethics, palliative care/hospice, advance directives, quality of life, and more. Click here for more information. Wit can be streamed via Max and the Max Prime Video Channel.

CEOs face personal inflection point affecting decision making, management and culture; seek to recalculate AI journey, CEO study finds GlobeNewswire - The Futurum Group; media contact, Nati Katz; 1/21/25 Global Management Consulting Partnership Kearney, and Futurum, the leading research, intelligence and advisory firm, today jointly announced the release of the 2025 CEO AI Management study. As largest of its kind for CEO response rates within the company size targeted, the published global CEO Study examined leadership’s stance and status of organizational AI adoption, implementation and roadmaps, – revealing alarming backlash effects that CEOs may already experience. ... Futurum and Kearney managed to develop a substantial CEO playbook for AI which features five points that lead to breakthroughs in AI outcomes. [Key items from their "Five-Point CEO Playbook" include:]

Justice Department sues Walgreens over alleged part in opioid crisis Becker's Hospital Review; by Madeline Ashley; 1/17/25 The Justice Department on Jan. 16 filed a civil complaint against Walgreens Boots Alliance and its subsidiaries alleging unlawful dispensation of millions of prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, also alleges that Walgreens sought reimbursements from federal health programs in violation of the False Claims Act, according to a Jan. 17 news release. The Justice Department alleges that Walgreens knowingly filled millions of invalid controlled substance prescriptions since August 2012, including excessive opioid quantities, early refills and a "dangerous and abused combination of drugs" ... The complaint suggests pharmacists at Walgreens filled the prescriptions "despite clear red flags" indicating the prescriptions were likely unlawful, ignoring other internal data and evidence from pharmacists about dispensing unlawful prescriptions. 

2025 ushers new era in physician unions Becker's Hospital Review; by Kelly Gooch; 1/17/25 While unionization among healthcare workers and professionals is a familiar phenomenon, resident physicians and fellows joining unions has only grown in recent years. Indeed, since the start of 2025 alone, at least five groups of resident physicians and fellows have opted to form unions at their health systems. "Physician unionization has massively increased since 2020, especially among interns and residents," Rebecca Givan, PhD, associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J., told Becker's. ... Dr. Givan pointed to an increasing number of staff physicians unionizing as well. In 1998, the American Medical Association estimated that between 14,000 and 20,000 physicians belonged to unions. That number grew to 46,689 in 2014, and reached 67,673 in 2019. 

Hospice agency changes of ownership: An analysis  of publicly available ownership data Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation: Office of Behavioral Health, Disability, and Aging Policy; 1/10/25 ... Over time, the number of both Medicare enrollees receiving hospice care and hospice providers has grown. Between 2010 and 2022, the number of Medicare enrollees receiving hospice care grew by approximately 50%, while the number of hospice agencies grew by 69%. Growth in the hospice provider market was driven predominantly by a 125% increase in for-profit hospices, which represent a growing share (approximately three-quarters in 2021) of the hospice provider market. The shift toward for-profit ownership in the hospice industry has been driven not only by newly enrolling hospices, but also changes of ownership. For example, acquisitions of nonprofit hospice agencies by publicly traded corporations and private equity firms have contributed to the increase in market share of for-profit hospices.

New data reveals the hidden costs of workplace violence in healthcare Perceptyx; by Ellen Lovell, PhD and Stephanie Schloemer, PhD; 1/17/25 Workplace violence has become an impossible-to-ignore crisis in healthcare, threatening the safety of medical professionals, patients, and institutions. The severity and frequency of these incidents have reached alarming levels, demanding immediate attention and action. ... The human cost is staggering.  ... While our research confirms the widespread nature of safety concerns in healthcare, a deeper analysis reveals significant variations across different healthcare environments and roles. This granular view helps us understand where intervention is most urgently needed. Editor's note: Although "hospice settings reported the lowest agreement at 54%," this statistic should be considered too high for comfort. Actions need to be taken to reduce it. From your professional leadership role, examine the importance of protecting hospice professionals' safety--typically in home settings--and through moments such vulnerable, emotional, conflicted times within families. What can your agency improve?

CMS announces updated Medicaid eligibility standards for 2025 McKnights Senior Living; by Lois A. Bowers; 1/17/25 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday released an informational bulletin with updated federal poverty level standards applied to eligibility criteria for Medicaid. The 2025 guidelines reflect a 2.9% price increase between calendar years 2023 and 2024, the agency said. For 2025, the poverty guideline in all states except Alaska and Hawaii is $15,650 for a one-person family/household and $21,150 for a two-person family/household. The 2025 standards for individuals dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid: [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

Community rallies to bring 12-year-old cancer patient homeNBC 26, Green Bay, WI; by Ezekiel Telemaco; 1/18/25 Hadley Baker returns home to a community welcoming her with open arms. 

The 'paradigm shift’ of hospice service diversification Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 1/17/25 Some hospices have delved deeper into service diversification to improve timely access and expand their patient reach, while others remain focused on end-of-life care delivery. The decision to launch into new service realms can come with a range of operational and reimbursement questions. Among the keys to diversifying services is establishing a business infrastructure that allows for innovative growth based on communities’ needs, according to Leslie Campbell, COO of Touchstone Communities. The San Antonio, Texas-headquartered company provides hospice, home health, veterans services, assisted living and skilled nursing services. ... Hospice leaders need to ensure that both back-office administrative and interdisciplinary teams are educated on how business growth impacts them, particularly when it comes to quality and compliance across the care continuum, Campbell stated.

For 27 years, I had minimal contact with my abusive mother. Then she moved in with me. HuffPost; by Carole Brodsky; 1/20/25 ... Living with my mom was the last thing I ever thought I’d be doing as an adult. Perhaps I accepted her back into my life because there were no other options available. Perhaps it was because I was the daughter of someone who in today’s vernacular would be called a “tiger mom,” and I’d been taught caring for an aging parent was what “good daughters” did.  ... As a child, my mother was abusive.  ... [Now, as] Mom’s verbal skills declined, we had to use our eyes, guts and hearts to discern the needs of a person whose tether to this world was fraying before our eyes. ... My partner has a saying: I always forgive, but I never forget. I have unequivocally forgiven my mother for everything. I have tried, with varying degrees of success, to let the vestiges of her abuse die with her and not invade the lives of my children, grandchildren and now, great-grandchildren. The work on forgiving myself will continue for the rest of my life.

Global challenges persist in bringing hospice care to incarcerated populationsHospice News; by Holly Vossel; 1/16/25Swelling incarcerated aging populations with unmet end-of-life care needs are straining prison systems worldwide. Recent research has uncovered some of the common strategies to address the issue that are being employed across the globe. More countries have adopted peer caregiving as a way to provide improved support for terminally ill incarcerated individuals, according to researcher Barry Ashpole. Hospice communities have increasingly forged collaborations to provide caregiving training programs in prison systems throughout the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Germany, among others, according to a recent report dubbed as End-of-Life Care in the Prison Environment. The report examined global trends around end-of-life care delivery among incarcerated populations.

US dementia cases projected to double within 40 years Medscape Medical News; by Pauline Anderson; 1/13/25 The number of US adults who will develop dementia each year is projected to increase from approximately 514,000 in 2020 to about 1 million in 2060, new research shows. In addition, the lifetime risk of developing dementia after age 55 is estimated at 42%. The research showed that the relative growth in dementia cases is particularly pronounced for Black adults. These new findings researchers say, “highlight the urgent need for policies that enhance healthy aging, with a focus on health equity.”

Navigate a smooth transition from hospital to home care Health Medicine Network; 1/17/25 When discharged from hospital, a high proportion of people face emotions such as anxiety and fear, which can make the transition from hospital care to safe and appropriate home care difficult. But it doesn’t have to feel that way if you develop an effective strategy before you leave the hospital. ...