Literature Review

Nursing homes can disrupt ‘rehabbed to death’ cycle with PDPM-based palliative care Skilled Nursing News; by Kristin Carroll; 9/7/25 ... Skilled nursing facilities can leverage the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) to provide more palliative care to people near the end of life, helping to drive value-based care goals while improving the patient experience. However, much more needs to be done on the policy level to disrupt the current status quo, in which people commonly go through several care transitions near the end of life, driving up costs across the health care system while patients receive services that are not aligned with their own goals. Enabling concurrent SNF and hospice care is one change that could lead to improvement. These are assertions in the recent article “Rehab and Death: Improving End-Of-Life Care for Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility Beneficiaries,” published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

CDC Releases 2025/2026 flu vaccine recommendations LeadingAge; Press Release; 9/3/25 The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) on August 28, 2025 approved recommendations for flu vaccines for the 2025/2026 flu season. ... A key concern for LeadingAge members is whether COVID vaccine will be available for adults working in LeadingAge member communities who may choose vaccination, as it is widely believed that Medicare and private insurances will likely cover vaccines only for populations for which the shot is recommended. ... At this time, a flu vaccine is recommended for all individuals over the age of 6 months, with high-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccines recommended for individuals aged 65 years and older. Flu season is considered to run October 1 – March 31 each year ...

From panic to purpose: Tulane student’s bell project brings hope to cancer patients nationwide CBS WWL-4, New Orleans, LA; by Meg Farris; 9/8/25 A little girl whose mother was diagnosed with a very serious illness could have never dreamed that several years later, she'd be helping patients across the country and beyond. ... Belle Spar vividly remembers, ... “I had a panic attack, hysterically crying. I thought I was going to lose my mom. I was 12. I was terrified ...” Belle Spar, 21. [The ritual of ringing the bell at the end of cancer treatment became a symbol of hope.] That 12-year-old ... is now a senior at Tulane University. During those nine years as an adolescent, she and her sister, Alexa, accomplished something remarkable. They have raised money to donate 130 bells, so far, to radiation and transplant centers around the U.S., and even in South America.

30 jolly Santas and Mrs. Clauses are in KC this weekend. Why they may make you cry The Kansas City Star; by Eric Adler; 9/6/25 On Friday morning, inside a convention room at the Hotel Savoy in Kansas City, Santa pulled up a chair to tell a story or two about some of the children, and even adults, he'd visited to bring a last moment of joy. As he spoke, some 21 other Santas, elves and eight Mrs. Clauses from Kansas, Louisiana, Idaho, Wisconsin, some 13 states took to other tables with coffee and muffins for a Santa America symposium about to begin. ... "The difference going in," said Boydston, the nonprofit's current president, "we know what we're going into. We know this is a terminal child. This may be the last time a family gets a smile. This may be the last happy moment." Or maybe it's a visit to a parent who is in hospice, leaving a child behind. ... In those sensitive moments when it doesn't - or for sensitive children - these Santas show up, often at their homes: For a sick child, for a dying child, for grieving children or even worried children whose parent, in the military, may be headed off for deployment. ...

20-year-old twins reinvent a high plains farm after loss Successful Farming; by Lisa Foust Prater; 9/6/25 ... Kit Carson is a community of around 250 people in the High Plains of eastern Colorado. “There were nine kids in our graduating class, and we were two of them,” Alex said.  Just after senior year started, in September 2022, the brothers lost their mother, Maria, to cancer. Then, in January, they lost their father, Ervin, to the same disease. Ervin had been in the hospital since summer. When Maria’s cancer progressed, the couple was moved into hospice together, about 20 minutes from home. ... [Through their bereavement,] ... Alex and Paul made a decision: they were going to keep the farm going, and they were going to do it together. And although they learned countless lessons about farming from their father, they agreed they weren’t going to just keep doing things because that’s the way they had always been done. ...

Agnesian HealthCare Foundation 2025 Charity Open has successful year Envision, Fond du Lac, WI: Press Release; 9/8/25 The Agnesian HealthCare Foundation recently hosted its 37th annual Charity Open, ... raising  more than $525,000 – making this one of the most successful years. Proceeds from this year’s event are supporting SSM Health at Home Hospice and SSM Health Cancer Care services within the greater Fond du Lac area – helping ensure that all patients have access to these vital services regardless of their ability to pay.

The hidden crisis in serious illness care and how we fix itMedCityNews; by Dr. Mihir Kamdar; 9/7/25 Every year, millions of Americans with serious illnesses find themselves caught in a dangerous limbo: not sick enough to qualify for hospice, but far too ill to be served by our traditional healthcare system. The result is care that’s expensive, fragmented, and often traumatic. These patients are shuffled between a revolving door of emergency rooms and ICUs, enduring a cascade of aggressive interventions that don’t match their goals or improve their quality of life. This approach not only undermines quality, it drives healthcare spending through the roof, particularly in the last year of life. This is the hidden crisis in serious illness care. And it’s getting worse. At the root of the problem is what many in the field call the “hospice cliff.” ...

Training and practice gaps in nursing home palliative care: A cross-sectional study Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS); by Manali Saraiya, Molly A. Nowels, Rose L. Carlson, Jerad H. Moxley, Catherine A. Riffin, Evan Plys, M. Carrington Reid, Isabella Hastings, Taimur Mirza, Ronald D. Adelman, Daniel Shalev; 9/7/25 We conducted a cross-sectional survey of clinical employees (N = 398) at seven NHs within a single integrated health system in New York State to (1) gauge attitudes toward and knowledge about palliative care, (2) estimate the extent of engagement with advance care planning, and (3) elicit perceptions of the most valuable components of palliative care for NH residents. ... Despite support for palliative care, gaps in knowledge and clinical engagement persist and vary by discipline. Discipline-tailored training and program design may improve palliative care delivery in NHs and help ensure more consistent, value-aligned care for residents with serious illness.

The keys to building solid disease-specific hospice programs Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 9/8/25 Understanding the most prevalent medical conditions among aging patient populations is a significant part of developing disease-specific programs that better address physical, emotional and practical needs. ... Community needs assessments play a large role in steering the direction of a disease-specific program, said Evan Dressel, director of strategy, program development and innovation at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare.  ... Navigating service needs, strategic execution and establishing successful care collaborations are crucial components to consider when building a disease-specific program, according to Kelly Gadison, vice president of clinical practice, strategy and programs at Amedisys. ... 

CMS: Annual Change in Medicaid Hospice Payment Rates—ACTIONCMS, Department of Health and Human Services; email from Rory Howe, director; 9/5/25The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the Medicaid hospice rates for FY 2026. They are slightly different than the Medicare rates and should be used when billing for Medicaid hospice patients. This memorandum contains the Medicaid hospice payment rates for federal fiscal year (FY) 2026. The rates reflect changes made under the final Medicare hospice rule published on August 1, 2025 (CMS-1835-F). Please inform your staff and all state agencies in your jurisdiction of these new payment rates, which are effective October 1, 2025. We expect state agencies to share the Medicaid hospice payment rates for FY 2026 with the hospice providers in their state.

Fond du Lac 9-year-olds used country club lemonade stand to raise over $1K for hospice care FDL Report, Fond du Lac, WI; by Shelly Haberman; 8/30/25 On a sunny weekend in Fond du Lac, during the bustling member-guest golf tournament at South Hills Golf & Country Club, two young girls turned a simple backyard lemonade stand into a powerful tribute of love and generosity. Olivia Schaeve and Lola Polacek, both Fond du Lac residents, hosted the stand in honor of Olivia’s grandmother, Susanne Stilwell, who passed away in December 2024. ... “My mom was incredibly close to Olivia,” Rachel Schaeve, Olivia’s mother, shares. “As part of our grief journey, we’ve tried to keep her memory alive. The lemonade stand felt like a fun and meaningful way to do that.” The girls, both age 9, embraced the challenge with enthusiasm. “They considered themselves quite the mixologists,” Rachel laughs. “They loved adding extra flavors and chatting with the golfers. As the donations started piling up, they set a goal to raise $1,000 — and they did it!”

David Quigg named CEO for Harbors Home Health Hospice The Daily World, Hoquiam, WA, by Jerry Knaak; 9/3/25 Harbors Home Health & Hospice has removed the interim tag and named David Quigg the permanent CEO. Quigg, who has been with the organization for nearly two and a half years and served as interim CEO since May, is a successful real estate broker with Quigg & Co Real Estate in Hoquiam. He also serves as an at-large commissioner for Grays Harbor County Hospital District 2.

SECU Foundation awards $170,000 grant to Carolinas Foundation for Hospice and Home Care SECU Foundation, Raliegh, NC; Press Release; 9/4/25 SECU Foundation recently awarded a $170,000 grant to Carolinas Foundation for Hospice and Home Care (CFHHC) to assist with the development and implementation of a standardized training curriculum and onboarding model for personal care aides. The project will help address the critical need for qualified care aides and improve the retention of employees in the field. CFHHC was established in 1998 by the Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina (AHHC) to support innovation that improves access to quality hospice and home care services in the state.