Literature Review

Oregon OSHA pursues workplace violence prevention rule for healthcare employers Mondaq; by Littler Mendelson; 8/26/26 Oregon OSHA has proposed a comprehensive workplace violence prevention rule for healthcare employers, implementing Senate Bill 537's statutory requirements. The proposal mandates periodic security assessments, development of prevention programs, and annual training for hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, home health agencies, and hospice programs. While the healthcare industry broadly supports violence prevention efforts, questions remain about whether the rule's training requirements exceed legislative.

From zombies to zealots: cultivating passion and purpose in healthcare leadership | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with DJ Mitsch and Tasha Walsh; 8/26/26 Healthcare professionals often enter the field with a calling—but somewhere between compliance, productivity demands, regulatory pressure, and relentless change, that calling can begin to disappear. In Part One of From Zombies to Zealots, Chris Comeaux is joined by DJ Mitsch, pioneering executive coach, author, and founder of the Healthcare Coaching Institute, and Tasha Walsh, CEO and Executive Director of ConnectionsPlus Healthcare + Hospice.  Together, they explore how passionate, purpose-driven healthcare professionals can gradually become disconnected from the very work that once inspired them. DJ argues that when organizations celebrate productivity and profitability at the expense of people, work becomes transactional rather than transformational—and trust, imagination, and engagement begin to erode.

Area bereavement coordinator heads group supporting women chaplains Cranberry Eagle; by Marcia Jones-Washington; 8/24/26 It already takes a certain kind of person to perform the work of a chaplain, according to longtime police chaplain Millie Johnson, who said being a woman in the field lends its own challenges to the duties. ... Marcia Jones-Washington, a bereavement coordinator with Good Samaritan Hospice, organized an online networking ministry specifically for women chaplains which meets monthly to discuss topics relating to their work. Johnson has been a regular attendee since its founding in 2022. Jones-Washington said the group allows women to share their experiences in chaplaincy to encourage and support other women with the same calling. ...  After running the online support group for a few months, Jones-Washington took her planning to the real world and organized a conference for women chaplains that is now entering its fourth year.

BrightSpring ‘leaning in’ on M&A Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 8/24/26BrightSpring Health Services (Nasdaq: BTSG) is pursuing healthcare deals in 2026, with the potential for some larger deals. The company has primarily invested in tuck-in acquisitions in recent times and will continue to emphasis those targets in its pipeline. However, it will also consider more medium-sized deals, provided they are less than 30% to 40% of EBIDTA, according to CEO Jon Rousseau. “Our M&A approach over the last 10 years now has been you know really targeting tuck-ins and geographically adjacent areas where we can apply better operational capabilities and synergies to drive a lot of accretive deals,” Rouseau said in an earnings call. “Some of our markets don’t really have acquisition opportunities, but you look at home health, hospice, rehab, infusion, primary care, home and community pharmacy, those all do. ...” 

I love being an only child. Then I think about my parents getting older. Scary Mommy - Solo Act; by Brianne Hogan; 8/25/26 ... When you’re an only child and you watch your parents age, you do realize that, when it comes to them, you’re on your own. And with aging parents, as so many of us in the sandwich generation understand, it’s a tough road to navigate at times. ... “Only children often need to carry the emotional weight of transitioning to the caregiver and decision-maker role for their parents alone, ...” says Marisa T. Cohen, PhD, LMFT, CST, a licensed marriage and family therapist and also an only child. “Without siblings who most likely have a shared narrative of the family history, taking on this caregiver role can feel incredibly isolating and may even lead to anticipatory grief.”

My grandparents wanted to age at home. Eventually, their care cost $4,000 a week. Business Insider; by Erin Dentmon; 8/25/26 My grandparents lived at home until dying in their 90s in 2024 and 2025. Like many people, they had no desire to leave their shared home at the end of their lives. ... Through great sacrifice, my mom and her siblings worked to make that happen for them. My grandparents, a rural, middle-class couple, benefited from an increasingly unique set of circumstances: Their end-of-life illnesses were relatively short. My grandfather's pension provided financial security. Most importantly, they had six adult children ready to pitch in to make it happen. Even with all of these advantages, caregiving was complicated.

Understanding the hospice journey: care, comfort, and connection in assisted living WriteUpCafe; Oakdale Heights Assisted Living; 8/25/26 Hospice care can feel like unfamiliar territory for families, especially when a loved one is already receiving support in assisted living. It is natural to have questions about what happens next, who provides care, and how everyday needs will be handled. ...

Frailty predicts more than age: strategies for hospitalists Medscape; by Julie Peck; 8/25/26 An 85-year-old who remains active and independent may recover from pneumonia more quickly than someone 20 years younger with multiple chronic illnesses, poor nutrition, and declining mobility. Growing evidence suggests that frailty — a state of diminished physiologic reserve and increased vulnerability to stressors — is one of the strongest predictors of prolonged hospitalization, complications, functional decline, discharge to post-acute care, readmissions, and mortality, often outperforming chronological age alone.

Aging Luzerne County prison population cited as challenge The Dallas Post; by Jennifer Learn-Andes; 8/22/26 During recent legislative testimony about crime trends, Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo highlighted the aging prison population as a concern that must be addressed. Older inmates with “escalating chronic health needs” are contributing to rising medical costs and challenging a prison staff “increasingly called upon to manage geriatric and end-of-life care in a setting never designed for it,” she told the Senate Majority Policy Committee and House Republican Policy Committee at a hearing earlier this month in Hazleton. “Corrections officers are trained for security, not hospice care,” Crocamo told the legislators, emphasizing “graying behind bars” is an emerging issue statewide. 

A retrospective mixed-methods analysis of falls among patients in a social model hospice residential care home American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Carol S. Weisse, PhD, Kelly Melekis, MSW, PhD, Lam Nguyen, Cort Collier, BS, and Nadia Kelley, MPH; 8/9/26 ... In the 24-hour period prior to patients’ falls, opiates were shown to be the most frequently administered medication followed by benzodiazepines, with higher rates of falls among patients who consumed both of these medications in combination. Most falls occurred in the bedroom or bathroom and were related to toileting needs. Results suggest that informal caregivers may benefit from additional training when supporting hospice patients’ toileting needs, especially when they have received opiates and benzodiazepines. Results illustrate caregivers’ efforts to balance fall risk with patients’ desire for autonomy as a central element of home hospice care. Editor's Note: What systems do you have in place for reporting, responding to, and reducing patient falls, especially in homes? At a minimum, you need to have these in place:

‘Pitt’ Crew: all 13 Emmy-nominated actors on bedside manners, blow-ups and fan theoriesTheWrap; by Steve Pond and TheWrap Staff; 8/21/26 TheWrap magazine: “It’s such a collective effort,” Noah Wyle says of making the hit HBO Max hospital drama. ... The 13 acting nominees, one shy of the record set by “Succession,” spoke to TheWrap about life in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Noah Wyle, Dr. Michael “Robby” Rabinovitch, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: If Wyle’s Dr. Robby is a broken hero in the first season, he’s shattered in the second, mistreating his staff and acting so self-destructively that he seems borderline suicidal. His perpetually dark mood did not go unnoticed among “Pitt” fans. ... [Continue reading for descriptions by the actors about The Pitt's characters they portray: Dr. Frank Langdon, Dr. Jack Abbot, Dr. Dennis Whitaker, Dr. Melissa King, Dr. Cassie McKay, Charge Nurse Dana Evans, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, Louie Cloverfield, Duke Ekins, Roxie Hamler, Becca King, Ilana Miller.]Editor's Note: Use small excerpts in your staff meetings and clinical education to explore specific topics with engaging, memorable examples. Invite insights from attendees.

Boilermakers Local 105 donates $6,000 to SOMC HospiceThe Portsmouth Daily Times, Portsmouth, OH; by Landen Puckett; 8/22/26Boilermakers Local 105 continued its tradition of supporting the local community by donating $6,000 to SOMC Hospice from proceeds raised during its annual charity golf outing. Boilermakers Local 105 is a labor union representing skilled workers in the boilermaking and related trades. The union supports workers who perform construction, maintenance, repair and other skilled industrial work, while also participating in community activities and charitable efforts throughout the region.

Finding Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) Payment System Rules: schedules and resources Congressional Research Service - Informing the legislative debate since 1914; by Congressional Research Service, summary by Michele L. Malloy; updated 8/14/26 The Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) program pays physicians, hospitals, and other health care facilities based on statutorily established payment systems, most of which are updated annually through regulations. The publication of Medicare FFS proposed and final rules follow schedules based on requirements found in statute, regulation, or both. ... This report contains information on these payment system rules in a quick reference table. Specifically, the table compiles the payment systems; their main portals on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website; the typical rulemaking schedule; statutory and regulatory requirements; and the most recently issued proposed rules, public comments, final rules, and subsequent corrections.