Literature Review

Harbors Home Health and Hospice expands community education The Daily World; by Jerry Knaak; 3/6/26 Harbors Home Health and Hospice was selected as the recipient of more than $19,000 in donations at the March 2025 100+ Harbor Women Who Care giving event. The funds were awarded after Harbors was nominated alongside two other local nonprofits and chosen by the attendees for the organization’s commitment to caring for patients and families throughout the community. Rather than using the funds internally, Harbors leadership saw the award as an opportunity to give back through community education focused on aging and end-of-life planning.

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~ A. A. Milne

Hospice & Palliative Care of Chenango finalizes partnership with NYS Veterans Home in Oxford The Evening Sun, Oxford, NY; by Rebecca Laibowitz; 3/9/26 Hospice & Palliative Care of Chenango and the New York State Veterans Home at Oxford recently finalized a long-awaited partnership which now allows residents of the home and their families to receive hospice care from the nurses and volunteers of the organization. Prior to this partnership the home would have to send away people in seeking hospice care as strict regulations require a contract between a nursing home and hospice care provider in order for that type of care to be administered.

Oregon legislature passes bill Stop Bad Actors from Taking Advantage of Hospice Patients OregonLegislature.gov, Salem, OR; Press Release, Office of Senator Deb Patterson; 3/4/26 Hospice began as a movement to provide end-of-life care for terminally ill patients. However, corporate investors have started buying up hospice agencies and reducing services as they try to maximize profits. In some states, this has led to patterns of fraud, abuse, and neglect. Today, the Oregon Legislature passed the Protecting the Dying Act (SB 1575), which enhances state oversight of hospice agencies. ... Senator Patterson began work on this issue after it was brought to her by a local hospice provider in her community. Iria Nishimura, CEO of Willamette Vital Health in Salem, said, “Hospice serves patients and families during the most vulnerable time of life. The state has a responsibility to ensure that providers entering this field are qualified, ethical, and capable of deliver high-quality care.”

Delivering palliative care in mental health nursing settings: A systematic review Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing; by Oladapo Akinlotan, Allen O'Connor, Ruben Seetharamdoo, Mo Ghoorun; 3/6/26 Palliative care can provide comfort, alleviate suffering, and improve quality of life; however, access to palliative care for people with mental illnesses at the end of their lives is extremely poor. As the need for palliative care is expected to rise significantly in the future, palliative care must be considered a global health priority. ...  Recommendations: Although care for people with complex mental illness is complex while dying, conversations around palliative care need to be as part of a therapeutic relationship and engagement. Also, palliative care staff have an important role in communicating end-of-life planning to patients' families and carers.

New Job Board Posting: Chief Executive Officer, Hildegard House, Louisville, KY Hildegard House | Ashley Rountree and Associates; Executive Job Posting; 3/9/26 Hildegard House (HH) is Kentucky's first and only Comfort Care Home. Through the support of our community and with the help of many volunteers, we provide a home and compassionate care for individuals at the end of life who have no home or loved ones to care for them, allowing each of them to die with dignity. ... The next CEO of Hildegard House (HH) will step into a pivotal leadership role at a moment of stability, growth, and meaningful transition. ... The retirement of the founding CEO creates a unique opening for a visionary leader to build upon a decade of mission driven success and to chart the organization's future direction.

The US health spending problem is still about pricesHealth Affairs; by Irene Papanicolas, Jonathan Cylus, Luca Lorenzoni; 2/18/26For more than two decades, debates about why US health care spending is so high have been shaped by the insight articulated by Gerard Anderson, Uwe Reinhardt and Peter Hussey: that the United States does not use more health care than other high-income countries but pays much higher prices for it. The original “It’s the Prices, Stupid” argument was fundamentally about price levels, not price growth. That central insight remains as true today as when it was first articulated: across services, drugs, and inputs, the United States consistently pays substantially higher prices than its peers for comparable services, drugs, and inputs.

Huey Perry: Between celebration and goodbye The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, WV; by Huey Perry; 3/6/26 There are moments in life that do not fit neatly into human emotion. They do not allow us the comfort of a single response. They stretch the heart in opposite directions at once. I recently experienced such a moment over something as ordinary as lunch. Three friends met to share a meal. Two of them had suffered lung cancer. On this particular day, the news arrived like a divided verdict from some invisible court. One firend had been declared cancer-free. The other had been referred to hospice care. Across the table sat life and death, side by side. ... How does one act in such a moment? I found myself suspended between two emotional poles. ... [Full access may be limited behind a paywall]

ECU Health announces transition of Home Health and Hospice Services to Liberty Home Care and Hospice Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald, Greenville, NC; Press Release; 3/5/26 On March 5, ECU Health announced it has entered into an agreement to sell its Home Health and Hospice business unit to Liberty Home Care and Hospice, an experienced mission‑aligned provider delivering high‑quality care across the Carolinas. The sale will occur pending approval from the North Carolina Attorney General office and will help ensure home health and hospice services remain available for patients and families in the region. The transition includes all ECU Health Home Health and Hospice operations, including: Home Health offices in Greenville, Windsor, Washington and Kenansville, Hospice offices in Greenville, Ahoskie and Kenansville, and The Service League of Greenville Hospice House. 

Heart to Heart Hospice expands service in East Texas Cision | PR Newswire, Plano, TX; Press Release; 3/3/26 Heart to Heart Hospice, one of the country's largest private providers of hospice care, has opened two new agencies in East Texas, significantly expanding its ability to serve patients and families in the region. Heart to Heart Hospice of Huntsville and Heart to Heart Hospice of Hemphill are now making a broad range of hospice services available in nine additional Texas counties. The Huntsville agency serves the counties of Brazos, Grimes, Houston, Madison, Polk, Trinity, and Walker. The Hemphill location covers Sabine and San Augustine counties. 

East Texas woman celebrates 100th birthday, leaving legacy of faith and family The Lufkin Daily News; by Ruben Ibarra, Jr.; 6/6/26 A woman who spent her life caring for others turned 100 Monday, surrounded by family members who say her legacy is one of strength, faith and unwavering love. Alzonia Hood Freeman, born March 2, 1926, in Camden, reached the milestone under the care of Hospice in the Pines. A weekend gathering brought relatives from across Texas and neighboring states, while hospice staff held a birthday observance Monday to honor a life that has stretched across a full century. The celebration included a cake donated by Areles Bakery and flowers provided by Lufkin Flower Market.