Literature Review

I lost my sister to cancer. Here’s what I learned about medically assisted death. The Washington Post; by Steven Petrow; 8/29/26 The same year that my parents died, my sister, Julie, then 55, was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. Five years and three recurrences later, she’d exhausted all viable treatment options. At that point, she’d undergone one nine-hour surgery, six courses of chemotherapy and had joined two clinical trials. Like my parents’ physicians had done, Julie’s doctor eventually recommended palliative care, with at-home hospice, to keep her comfortable during her last months. ... [Julie, 61, chose legal MAID in 2023.] Approaching MAID as a journalist, I had questions: How is eligibility determined, what are the safeguards, does it always work, is a health care professional involved and many others. As a brother, however, I was conflicted and confused, and my questions felt more urgent and personal. ... [Access might be limited by a paywall.]  

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.

Pittsburgh Caregivers get federal lifeline as dementia cases swell across Allegheny County hoodline; by Ryan Miller; 8/21/26 Caregivers looking after loved ones with dementia in Pittsburgh now have a new federal tool to lean on, and it is already showing up at a day center in Squirrel Hill. The Anathan Club, run by the Jewish Association on Aging, has begun connecting families to the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience Model, a Medicare program that can cover up to $2,500 a year in respite care for qualifying beneficiaries. The Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience Model, known as GUIDE, was developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and launched nationwide on July 1, 2024, as an eight-year voluntary pilot running through June 30, 2032, according to CMS. Nearly 390 provider organizations across the country are participating. 

The Department of Justice's National Fraud Enforcement Division: a new era of coordinated fraud prosecution and what it means for corporate America Epstein Becker Green | Health Law Advisor; by Leah Brownlee Taylor, Erica Sibley Bahnsen, Sarah M. Hall, Andrew Beshai, Alkida Kacani, Gianna Costello; 8/21/26 On August 13, 2026, the Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) National Fraud Enforcement Division (the “NFED”), Colin M. McDonald, released a memorandum outlining NFED’s enforcement priorities. The memorandum is the first memo of this kind from NFED. The establishment of NFED earlier this year represented a watershed moment for federal fraud prosecution, as it established DOJ’s first-ever division dedicated exclusively to combating fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer-funded programs. With a stated goal of having 500 prosecutors and staff by August 24, NFED seeks to deploy “cutting-edge data analysis” across a “whole-of-government” effort. The establishment of NFED signals a fundamental shift in federal fraud enforcement, ... The NFED memo identifies five priority areas for federal fraud prosecution:

Hospice Wage Index, the Final Rule, and the signals CMS is sending | part two Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); pocast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Annette Kiser and Judi Lund Person The 2027 Hospice Final Rule is more than a reimbursement update—it’s a window into where Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) believes hospice care needs to go next. In Part One, host Chris Comeaux sits down with hospice regulatory experts Annette Kiser and Judi Lund Person to look beyond the numbers and “read the tea leaves” in CMS’s latest rule.  They unpack what hospice leaders need to understand about the Hospice Election Statement Addendum, the growing scrutiny of unrelated services and non-hospice Medicare spending, telehealth reporting, and the Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI).  As Judi explains, CMS’s commentary and responses to industry feedback can reveal as much about the agency’s direction as the regulations themselves.

Palliative care for Alzheimer’s: what families should understand WNY News Now; by News Staff; 8/19/26 Alzheimer’s disease gradually affects memory, judgment, communication, mobility, and personal care. As abilities change, families face decisions about symptom relief, treatment limits, safety, and emotional well-being. Palliative care addresses those needs while respecting the person’s values and previously expressed wishes. Assistance can begin at any stage of disease, especially when discomfort, behavioral changes, or caregiver strain become difficult to manage without clinical guidance. What details should families check for? ...

SOS: What does Google and ChatGPT say about SSVI and quality?Substack; by Joan Teno; 8/26Medicare recently finalized a new hospice scorecard called the Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI). It gives each Medicare-certified hospice a number from 0 to 16, built from nine billing-based measures, where a higher score flags a hospice whose spending and service patterns look unusual compared with its peers. A high score is not proof of bad care or fraud — it mainly signals to Medicare which hospices may be worth a closer look. In this post I asked Google Gemini and ChatGPT to interpret a sample hospice’s score, and I compare how well each explained what the number does, and does not, mean for a family choosing a hospice.Publisher's note: Even though Substack is a blog site rather than a journal, Joan's content is outstanding and also fits here in a Saturday research issue!

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