Literature Review
HMN 2026: How palliative care understanding shapes preferences for end-of-life care
09/30/26 at 03:00 AMHMN 2026: How palliative care understanding shapes preferences for end-of-life care Health Medicine Network; 99/28/26 A Swedish population-level study has found that people with a comprehensive understanding of palliative care are more likely to prefer end-of-life care at home or in a hospice. Among individuals with less understanding about palliative care, hospital care is preferred. ... The data were based on a random sample of 3,750 people ages 16–90 from the Swedish population register.
Warning: If you get a ‘new’ plastic Medicare card in the mail, do not give your Social Security number
09/30/26 at 03:00 AMWarning: If you get a ‘new’ plastic Medicare card in the mail, do not give your Social Security number SavingAdvice.com; by James Hendrickson; 9/28/26 An official-looking Medicare card unexpectedly arrives in your mailbox, but there’s something different about it: it’s plastic, perhaps has a chip, and comes with instructions telling you to call a number to “activate” your new benefits. Don’t make that call. The Senior Medicare Patrol specifically warns beneficiaries about scams involving supposed new plastic Medicare cards, chip cards, and annual replacement cards. Scammers may use the story as an excuse to obtain your Medicare number, Social Security number, banking information, or other personal data. There’s an important 2026 wrinkle, however: receiving a new Medicare card isn’t automatically evidence of fraud. ... Here’s what to check before giving anyone information. ...
Couple turned wedding into cancer fundraiser. How much did they raise?
09/30/26 at 03:00 AMCouple turned wedding into cancer fundraiser. How much did they raise? Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH; by Lauren Cohen; 9/26/26 ... Jon and Amber Kozesky got married at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Sept. 19, but the day meant much more to them than just exchanging vows. They set a goal to raise $100,000 for their pediatric cancer foundation, The Littlest Heroes, instead of accepting wedding gifts. The nonprofit provides financial and emotional support to families of kids receiving cancer treatment in Northeast Ohio. As of Sept. 23, the Fairview Park couple is about halfway to their goal. Numerous people have given pledges to donate, and companies across the nation are reaching out to help get to the goal.
What hospitals need to change before data catches up
09/30/26 at 03:00 AMWhat hospitals need to change before data catches up ICD10 monitor; by Penny Jefferson, MSN, RN, CCDS, CCDS-O, CCS, CDIP, CRC, CHDA, CRCR, CPHQ, ACPA-C; 9/29/26 Medicare Advantage has traditionally occupied a familiar space in hospital operations: prior authorization, utilization management, denials, risk adjustment, and reimbursement. With the FY 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule, healthcare organizations need to add another significant area to that list—hospital mortality performance. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized modifications to five existing 30-day, all-cause, risk-standardized mortality measures to include eligible Medicare Advantage beneficiaries ...: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
Lawmakers: hospice staffing bill still a priority
09/30/26 at 03:00 AMLawmakers: hospice staffing bill still a priority Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/29/26 U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) remain committed to passing the Palliative Care and Hospice Education Training Act (PCHETA). If enacted, PCHETA would provide support for hospice and palliative care training programs for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and chaplains. The legislation would also expand continuing education and career-development opportunities, as well as incentives for professionals in these fields. Both Baldwin and Capito have served as caregivers for seriously ill family members.
MA: Shared credentialing platform slated for November start
09/30/26 at 03:00 AMMA: Shared credentialing platform slated for November start LeadingAge; by Nicole Fallon; 9/28/26 Provider credentialing and recredentialing can be one of the more time-consuming aspects of contracting with Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicaid managed care plans. Many LeadingAge members must submit the same information through separate credentialing processes for each plan they work with, often waiting months before contracts become active and negotiated rates take effect. A new national credentialing service, CertifyOS, may help streamline that process. Beginning November 1, 2026, providers participating in certain managed care plans will be able to submit credentialing information through a single online portal that can then be used by all participating health plans.
How to vet a nonprofit before you donate
09/30/26 at 02:00 AMHow to vet a nonprofit before you donate Success; by Stefanie Ellis; 9/28/26 Imagine giving to a charity that claimed to provide pain medication to children suffering from cancer, transport patients to chemotherapy appointments and pay for hospice care for dying patients, only to find out your money was funneled into salaries and personal expenses that included dating site memberships, trips to Disney World and concert tickets. Your trust would be shattered. Would you give to another organization, or would your mistrust trickle out into the entire network of nonprofit charities, making you question the ethics of everyone out there? ...
People say they want to die at home. I think about it differently. Guest essay
09/30/26 at 02:00 AMPeople say they want to die at home. I think about it differently. Guest essay International New York Times; by Daniela J. Lamas; 9/29/26What is a good death? We tend to imagine a good death as one that takes place at home, far from the sounds and smells and lines and tubes of an intensive care unit, like the one where I work. I believed this for many years. But after a decade as an I.C.U. doctor, I've come to think we need a different definition of a good death. A death at home can be the right thing for a patient and his or her family. But it is not inherently better. An I.C.U. death can be peaceful and dignified. A death at home can be panicked and painful. Yet we have built a culture, and quality metrics, that treat I.C.U. care at the end of life as a failure. ... "dying." But sometimes intensive care is the right place to care for a dying patient.
Dr. Martin McCormack: The healthcare leader connecting education, governance and a safer world
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMDr. Martin McCormack: The healthcare leader connecting education, governance and a safer world Global Healthcare Magazine; September 2026 issue Long before he held a title [Chief Executive Officer of the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland], ... Dr. Martin McCormack sat with families in the hardest hours of their lives, [as a palliative care physician, trauma counselor with patients and families in intensive care, supervising a team of 36 medical social workers, developing bereavement services. ... He measures his own leadership less by what has been delivered in any one period than by the capability it leaves behind. ... Dr. McCormack has been asking some version of the same question that has remained consistent throughout his career: What does this person need from the system around them, and how do we build it so it holds?
A Florida social worker stole $68,000 from an Alzheimer’s patient, state says
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMA Florida social worker stole $68,000 from an Alzheimer’s patient, state says The Miami Herald | The Lawton Constitution; by David J. Neal; 9/28/26 What was in a social worker’s wallet? A Capital One card on which she made almost $100,000 worth of payments, West Palm Beach police say, by ripping off an Alzheimer’s patient and a dying patient under her care. In Palm Beach County court, Port St. Lucie’s Megan Bernat pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of exploitation of an elderly person and money laundering in the case involving the deceased patient. ... Professionally, Bernat didn’t bother to answer a Florida Department of Health administrative complaint detailing the charges in the Alzheimer patient’s case. So, the Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling revoked her license on Wednesday.
How caregivers can prepare for a loved one’s final days
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMHow caregivers can prepare for a loved one’s final days AARP; by Paul Wynn; 9/28/26 When Dr. Chris Kerr’s mother was dying, he had the kind of experience that can change the way a doctor thinks about death. Kerr had spent decades caring for people at the end of life as a palliative care doctor in the Buffalo, New York, area. But when his mother, Shirley, became seriously ill, he experienced death through the lens of a son and a caregiver... “My lasting memory of my mother is her strong connection to her parents,” says Kerr, author of Death Is But a Dream and chief medical officer of Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo. “It took me a while, but I realized that I had to stop trying to play doctor and just be there for her.”
Individually, we are one drop. Together, ...
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMIndividually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. ~ Ryunosuke Satoro
Inside "Good Grief," Sara Bareilles' new album and documentary
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMInside "Good Grief," Sara Bareilles' new album and documentary Public Broadcasting System (PBS) | Amanpour & Co.; video interview of Sara Bareilles and Josh Alexander; 9/22/26 Musician Sara Bareilles has had a difficult few years. Behind the glamour of her successful music career, she has been dealing with loss. Her new album "Good Grief," and a documentary about its making, speak to the will to overcome. The album is out now and the doc, "Sara Bareilles: Good Grief," is available to watch on Kinema. Bareilles and her director, Josh Alexander, speak out about the journey.
Hundreds reach out after beloved artist Phil Ponder enters hospice care
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMHundreds reach out after beloved artist Phil Ponder enters hospice careThe Tennessean, Nashville, TN; by Brad Schmitt and Andy Humbles; 9/26/26Phil Ponder started writing a love letter to Nashville in the 1980s with his popular watercolor paintings of the downtown skyline. When he entered hospice care in early September at 93, the city he has spent decades celebrating has been sending that love back. Family members have brightened his days by reading from the hundreds of tributes from friends and loved ones whose lives Ponder has enriched. ... On Sept. 25, several Metro Council members opened the Phil Ponder Conference Room, which has more than 10 Ponder artwork prints on the walls.
Industry veteran launches ServingOverSelling movement to encourage health systems to curb promotional marketing
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMIndustry veteran launches ServingOverSelling movement to encourage health systems to curb promotional marketing News Chief, Minneapolis, MN; Press Release; 9/27/26 Chris Bevolo, former healthcare marketing agency owner, CEO and author of seven books calls on health systems to redirect money from self-promotion. One year after retiring from a 25-year health system marketing career, industry veteran Chris Bevolo has launched ServingOverSelling, a movement that encourages health systems to reallocate their promotional marketing spend and instead put those resources, energy and focus of those institutions back where they belong: on helping the people they exist to serve. The initiative, launched during the 2026 Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development 2026 Connections Annual Conference, already has a number of signatories to the movement’s pledge for health system marketing leaders to reallocate their promotional marketing spend in whatever way possible.
UGA Disaster Management Institute awarded $3.7M for rural facility resilience
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMUGA Disaster Management Institute awarded $3.7M for rural facility resilience Valdosta Today, Valdosta, GA and Athens, GA; Press Release; 9/28/26 The University of Georgia Institute for Disaster Management has been awarded $3.735 million to help harden rural hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and in-patient hospice in Georgia against disasters. Through the Rural Health Transformation Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is investing in rural health initiatives across the country. This nationwide initiative includes state-specific programs, including Georgia’s Rural Enhancement and Transformation of Health or GREAT Health Program, led by the Georgia Department of Community Health and supported by CMS.
Medicare fraud crackdown: what recent enforcement actions tell providers
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMMedicare fraud crackdown: what recent enforcement actions tell providers JD Supra; by Adam Appleberry; 9/28/26 ... Over the past several months, CMS and DOJ have announced a series of enforcement actions involving billions of dollars in suspected or allegedly improper Medicare claims. Although the cases involve different types of providers and different alleged conduct, several themes are beginning to emerge. ...
EvergreenHealth receives transformative $100M gift from Dean Weidner
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMEvergreenHealth receives transformative $100M gift from Dean Weidner The Bee, Kirkland, WA; Press Release; 9/28/26 EvergreenHealth has received a philanthropic gift of $100 million from Dean Weidner—the largest gift in the community-owned hospital’s history. This transformative donation helps accelerate EvergreenHealth’s plans to advance high-quality health care in the community with expanded access and increased capacity for generations to come. The gift honors the legacy of Dean Weidner and his wife, Ana, both dedicated philanthropists and advocates for EvergreenHealth’s mission to advance the health of the community through safe, compassionate, cost-effective health care. ...EvergreenHealth is two-hospital health system with a network of primary care practices, urgent care centers, specialty clinics, extensive home care and hospice services, and 24/7 emergency care in Kirkland, Monroe and Redmond.
What is end-of-life care at home? A complete guide for families
09/29/26 at 03:00 AMWhat is end-of-life care at home? A complete guide for families exeleon | Healthcare; 9/28/26 A study published in Federal Practitioner in September 2025, using data from the CDC WONDER database, found that home was the most common place of death among cancer patients between 2003 and 2023, accounting for 40.3% of all recorded deaths. ... This guide walks through what services are typically included, how eligibility works, and what separates in-home support from care delivered in a facility. Along the way, it covers home care for end of life planning, the difference between hospice and general end-of-life support, and practical steps for arranging services quickly.
Si puedes recordarme, ... (If you can remember me, ...)
09/28/26 at 03:00 AMSi puedes recordarme, siempre estaré contigo. / If you can remember me, I will be with you always.Isabel AllendeHonoring Hispanic Heritage Month
Sunday issue
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NIH grant advances research on palliative care at home
09/28/26 at 03:00 AMNIH grant advances research on palliative care at home Indiana University School of Nursing; by Glenda Shaw; 9/23/26 ... A new research project led by Indiana University School of Nursing assistant professor Lyndsay DeGroot, PhD, RN, aims to bring palliative care directly to patients in their homes through a telephone-based program that could make supportive care more accessible for people living with serious chronic illness. To support this work, DeGroot has received a NIH-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) five-year K23 Career Development Award totaling $916,000. The award will fund her project, “Implementing Community-Based Palliative Care for Adults with Heart Failure or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.”
Center for Hospice Care spotlights doula volunteer program
09/28/26 at 03:00 AMCenter for Hospice Care spotlights doula volunteer program GreatNews.Life, Valparaiso, IN; by Bennett Silveus; 9/25/26 Over the years, Center for Hospice Care (CHC) has worked to provide a wide range of specialized hospice and palliative care options to members of the Northern Indiana community. ... End-of-life doulas are trained, non-medical professionals who provide emotional, spiritual, and personal support and guidance to patients and families navigating the transitional period between life and death. ... Each CHC end-of-life doula works as a general volunteer for the non-profit, often starting off as a home visit or patient volunteer before moving to work as a doula. From there, the volunteer must take a 16-hour course and shadow a current doula to become fully trained in the practice.
BrightSpring Health targets growth through specialty pharmacy, M&A and AI
09/28/26 at 03:00 AMBrightSpring Health targets growth through specialty pharmacy, M&A and AI Ticker Report - BrightSpring Health Services; by Ethan Ryder; 9/27/26 BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ:BTSG) outlined its growth strategy across pharmacy and provider services at the Bernstein healthcare services conference, emphasizing specialty pharmacy expansion, home health acquisitions, technology investments and opportunities to integrate services for complex patients. ... The company divides its operations between pharmacy and provider services, with the premise that many patients require multiple services, including medications, primary care, home health, hospice and rehabilitation.