Literature Review

The measure isn’t wrong. The story is incomplete. McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Steven Littlehale; 2/27/26 Not long ago, I was sitting across from a nursing home leadership team as they stared at a quality measure report that didn’t make sense to them. ... So we did what more facilities should do when a QM score feels off: We stopped looking at the rating and started looking at the math. That’s where the real story surfaced. It wasn’t about poor care, but about exclusions not captured, covariates not fully coded, and pieces of the clinical picture that never made it into the structured data fields the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reads. 

Azura Palliative Care & Hospice NBC WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee, WI; Press Release; 2/27/26 Azura has been the leader in Memory Care & Assisted Living for many years. They are now opening a new location in Mukwonago. They also have a new sister company Azura Palliative Care & Hospice. The two companies allow them to offer assisted living, memory care, respite, hospice, palliative care and an adult day program called TIME. 

Choices Healthcare CEO Michael Link eyes growth, innovation while staying true to hospice mission LNP | Lancaster Online; by Rachel Curry; 3/1/26 Michael Link always admired the loyalty it took for a long, stable career — in terms of being loyal to the company and vice versa. In October 2025, Link became CEO of Choices Healthcare, the parent company of Hospice & Community Care, where he began working as an IT trainer in 2001. ... For Link, it was quickly apparent that the work he found himself in was meaningful, and staying within the organization afforded him the opportunity to work across all kinds of departments. In 2024, Hospice & Community Care merged with Hospice of Central PA to form Choices Healthcare. Together, they provide care across 11 Pennsylvania counties. The organization also operates the Pathways Center for Grief & Loss in Mount Joy. Much of Link’s new role involves maintaining a strong legacy of care.

Be where you are: Leadership, caregiving, and the courage to pause with Carla Davis | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast by Chris Comeaux with Carla Davis; 2/25/26 In this powerful episode on Hospice leadership and healthcare leadership development, Carla Davis, Executive in Residence at Cressey & Company, shares what she learned after taking an intentional executive sabbatical to care for her mother. This conversation explores the intersection of caregiver resilience, leadership and burnout, and rediscovering identity beyond professional titles. 

Chris Remely: Understanding burial and cremation — part 2 Bozeman Daily Chronicle (BDC); by Chris Remely; 2/21/26 ... Cremation is not new. Records dating back thousands of years indicate that people along the Greek Peninsula were the first to practice cremation. It was primarily done as a practical way to bring the bodies of fallen warriors home to honor them. ... The first cremation in America was performed in 1876 in Pennsylvania. Today, approximately 60 percent of persons who die in the United States choose cremation. What is cremation and how is it performed? ...

When the prognosis shifts: How communication strategies can help patients and families plan for what’s next Cancer Nursing Today; by Monique Nugent, MD, MPH, Gina Mohr, MD, Sarah Anderson, DNP, AGACNP-BC, OCN, WCC, Sarah May, MD; 2/20/26 Monique Nugent, MD, MPH, author of Prescription for Admission and hospitalist at South Shore Health, joined Cancer Nursing Today and Urban Health Today to moderate a collaborative roundtable focused on leading challenging conversations in healthcare settings, including key takeaways and educational insights for oncology nurses. A multidisciplinary panel of experts accompanied Dr. Nugent ... [to discuss] how oncology nurses and other healthcare professionals should approach end-of-life discussions with patients and caregivers and why in-depth planning for these conversations is critical.

Handmade patchwork quilts bring comfort to Taree palliative care patients and their families ABC - New South Wales, Australia; by Emma Siossian; 2/21/26 Kaye-Maree Hinton's husband Garry was in end-of-life care with a rare type of brain cancer, when a nurse laid a bright, handmade quilt over his hospital bed. Ms. Hinton, 62, says the simple act of kindness provided a spark of colour and comfort in the stark and sterile hospital environment. ... "It was so comforting … to cover him with something so beautiful, instead of just hospital sheets and hospital blankets in cold, stark white." ... The quilt is now set to become a family heirloom, already laid in a crib ready for the upcoming birth of Ms. Hinton's newest grandchild. ... Recently the project surpassed a total of 2,000 donated quilts.

March reminds us that progress is a journey—steady, patient, and full of promise.

Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske: Hospices facing ‘huge pendulum shift' Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 2/27/26 The hospice space has seen waves of regulatory changes in recent years that are affecting sustainable access, according to Meg Pekarske, partner at the law firm Husch Blackwell. Ensuring program integrity and quality will take an overhaul of hospice regulation. Pekarske, a hospice and health care attorney, is retiring with more than 25 years of legal experience, effective March 31. She recently sat down with Hospice News to reflect on the most significant regulatory changes impacting the future scope of hospice care delivery. Greater consideration is needed around a potential revamp of the Medicare Hospice Benefit, Pekarske said.

Lawyer explains why everyone should do 'mandatory hospice volunteering' when they turn 18 Upworthy; by Heather Wake; 2/20/26 In a recent, thought-provoking episode of the Impact Theory podcast with Tom Bilyeu, renowned divorce attorney and author James Sexton shared how being a hospice volunteer drastically changed his perspective on life. "I think when you turn 18, you should have to do a year or two of mandatory hospice volunteering," Sexton said. "It changed my entire way of viewing the world."

Physicians slightly more likely to die at home or hospice Chronic Disease, Public Health; by Adrian Wong and Michaela Dowling; 2/23/26 1. In this cross-sectional study, physicians were slightly more likely to die at home or in hospice than both the general population and individuals in other professions.2. The largest absolute differences between physicians and other professional groups were observed when Alzheimer disease or stroke was the underlying cause of death.

Hospice use rising for seniors following ICU stays U.S. News & World Report; by Deanna Neff, HealthDay News; 2/25/26For many older Americans, the intensive care unit (ICU) is a place of aggressive, life-saving intervention. However, a new national study reveals that more seniors are choosing a different path — transitioning from the high-tech world of the ICU to the comfort-focused environment of hospice. ... Between 2011 and 2023, the number of Medicare beneficiaries discharged to hospice after an ICU stay increased significantly, researchers from Boston University’s School of Medicine found. This shift occurred even as overall death rates remained steady, suggesting that the change in setting wasn’t tied to more people dying, but rather about how and where people spent their final days.Editor's Note: We posted a similar article on 2/23/26. We post this article for your awareness and use, due to its high profile in U.S. News & World Report.

New CAPC Report identifies caregiver support as key to better outcomes and lower health care costs Globe Newswire, New York, NY; by Center to Advance Palliative Care Press Release (CAPC); 2/20/26As caregiving demands continue to grow nationwide, a new report from the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) identifies formal caregiver support programs as a key driver of better outcomes and lower health care costs. The report links hospital-based caregiver support programs to improved outcomes for patients and caregivers, while being financially self-sustaining themselves.