Literature Review

HHS decertifies Kentucky organ procurement organization Hazard Herald, Hazard, KY; by an Appalachian Newspapers Staff Report; 8/15/26 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a statement Aug. 5 that it has decertified Network For Hope, the federally designated organ procurement organization serving Kentucky and parts of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. According to the statement, the move comes after multiple federal reviews found "persistent safety failures despite extensive oversight and despite Network for Hope having been provided repeated opportunities to correct them." The failures, according to the statement, put prospective organ donors and patients awaiting lifesaving transplants at risk.

Healing thyself: managing moral injury in healthcare Psychology Today; by Wendy L. Patrick, JD, MDiv, PhD; 8/16/26 Key Points

Victoria Hospice Services, Inc. files Chapter 11 bankruptcy BankruptcyObserver.com, Central District of California; Judge Barry Russell; 8/17/26 Victoria Hospice Services, Inc. is a Whittier, California-based hospice care provider. The company operates a licensed hospice facility, maintains Medicare-certified provider status, and delivers end-of-life and palliative care services to patients throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. Regulatory records indicate the organization remained  compliant with the fiscal year 2026 Medicare annual payment update. Victoria Hospice Services, Inc. sought relief under Chapter 11 Small Business of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (Bankr. C.D. Cal. Case No. 26-16812) on July 8, 2026.

Anonymous donor helps Grace House buy Highland Square’s Leonora Hall Signal Akron; Akron, OH; by Shams Mustafa; 8/17/26 A new chapter is beginning for Highland Square’s Leonora Hall after a nonprofit organization, Grace House Akron, purchased the property with the unexpected help of an anonymous donor. ... The acquisition means the property has a new owner following the closure of the Francesca Residence and the displacement of its mostly elderly residents. In a statement, Grace House representative Jen Boroff said that the nonprofit, which provides end-of-life care and housing for people who are indigent, unsheltered or abandoned, sees potential for the site to strengthen its mission and serve the broader community but that the organization has not yet decided how it will use the property.

When a hospice patient comes to the hospitalICD10monitor; by Tiffany Ferguson, LMSW, CMAC, ACM; 8/17/26 A recent question was posed related to “What happens when a hospice enrolled patient returns to the hospital for emergency or hospital care?” Aside from the initial questions such as “did we even know this patient was on hospice when they roll through the emergency room, or why did they come back to the hospital? The next question may evolve to the following: is the treatment still involving care congruent with the patient’s hospice care plan or has the patient/representative elected to revoke their hospice services? Understanding these distinctions is increasingly important for case management, utilization review, registration, revenue cycle, and especially hospital clinical teams.

Dementia coach Jeannine Forrest of Through the Forrest recently featured on Close Up Radio EIN Presswire, Chicago, IL; by Close Up Television & Radio; 8/17/26 Jeannine Forrest still remembers the moment her mother looked at her in her own home and said, “I’m living in a house of strangers.” At that moment, as a registered nurse, she realized she was not prepared to understand what her mother was truly experiencing. That realization became her life’s work. More than 30 years later, Forrest is a dementia coach and founder of Through the Forrest, where she works directly with family caregivers. ... Forrest explains that dementia shows up differently in every person, and is much more than memory loss alone. Her approach rests on one idea: When families understand what is happening, have a plan, and feel supported, life can become less frightening and more meaningful for both the person living with dementia and the caregiver.

4 things healthcare leaders should do before their next AI rollout Forbes; by Amanda Eisel; 7/31/26 ​Talk to enough leaders across healthcare right now and you'll hear the same pattern. Someone raises the topic of AI. The room leans forward. Pilots are funded and launched. Six months later, the honest postmortem says some version of the same thing: The technology worked, but the adoption didn't. The gap is human, not technical. And in healthcare, where sensitive data and regulated workflows raise the stakes on every decision, that gap doesn’t just slow a rollout. It costs trust that takes years to rebuild. Healthcare doesn’t need more AI. It needs a people-led strategy that comes before the technology decision, not after it. ...

AARP is working to root out health care ageism AARP; by Megan O'Reilly; 7/27/26 ... In collaboration with the Gerontological Society of America, AARP launched a training program last year to help future health professionals recognize and stop age-based bias. Tested at 13 universities across the country with about 500 students, the program uses health care scenarios and practical tools that remind providers to listen first and treat people as individuals, not stereotypes. ... Additionally, AARP has pushed for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to allow Medicare to cover essential training for family caregivers. And we fought for a measure to assess hospitals’ commitment to improving care for older patients. We also collaborated with the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative to train ER personnel to recognize dementia symptoms. ...

4 huge Medicare pay reforms are part of new bipartisan House bill American Medical Association (AMA); by Tanya Albert Henry; 8/11/26 With more physician Medicare pay cuts proposed for 2027, a new comprehensive, bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would finally make structural changes that are needed to prevent those cuts and create a payment system that helps ensure that America’s seniors have access to quality, value-based healthcare. The AMA-supported Patients First Act (H.R. 9693) addresses four core reforms that the AMA and organized medicine have long sought from Washington. If passed, the bill would:

Strategic leadership and the future of corporate learning an in-depth analysis of modern workforce development trends Recruit-Talent.com | Employee Training & Development; 8/14/26The landscape of corporate learning and development (L&D) is currently undergoing a fundamental transformation, shifting from a traditional "cost-center" model toward a core strategic function essential for organizational survival. In the latest installment of the Chief Learning Officer’s “Learning Insights” series, a high-level examination of this evolution reveals how visionary leaders are navigating the complexities of workforce development in an era defined by rapid technological advancement and shifting employee expectations. ... Essential Qualities of the Modern Learning Leader ... Key leadership traits identified by industry experts include:

Dad demands answers after daughter dies of rare cancer: why are so many kids getting sick in this community? (exclusive)People; by Wendy Grossman Kantor; 8/14/26Lilly Dalton grew up a few miles from Ladera Ranch, where at least a dozen young people and children have been diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma. Three days after graduating from college at Loyola University in New Orleans, Lilly Dalton told her parents her stomach hurt. Doctors found a tumor on the 21-year-old’s liver and she was diagnosed with a very rare, one-of-a-kind cancer. Lilly was raised in Laguna Niguel, a city in Orange County, Calif. — just six miles from Ladera Ranch, where 12 children and young adults have been diagnosed with another rare cancer, Ewing sarcoma. “That’s not a coincidence,” says her father, Brian Dalton, 49, who now lives in Meridian, Idaho, with Lilly’s mom, Nicole Dalton, 50. 

How SNF upper payment limits can hurt hospices Hospice News; by Brandyn Simmons; 8/17/2 When it comes to healthcare — especially if it involves Medicare or Medicaid — one solution can lead to new problems. The Upper Payment Limit (UPL) program is no exception to this rule. Across the spectrum in healthcare, Medicaid reimbursements have typically been inadequate in covering all expenses for patient care. This is where the UPL comes in. Under this initiative, providers such as skilled nursing facilities (SNF) can receive a gap payment through Medicare to make up the difference. While this is a boon for SNFs, this can become a major headache for many hospice companies across the United States. ...

Reports from Duke University describe recent advances in managed care (the South had the lowest rates of hospice and palliative medicine-certified providers in the Us, 2024): managed care Insurance Newsnet; by Staff; 8/13/26 A new study on Managed Care is now available. According to news reporting originating in Durham, North Carolina, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To improve access to care for serious illness, policy makers need evidence on how workforce capacity aligns with the need for palliative care. This study evaluated the palliative care workforce and policy environments at the state level, using a new data source: the 2024 Center to Advance Palliative Care’s comprehensive Serious Illness Scorecard.” Funders for this research include US Department of Veterans Affairs, Duke University, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discover and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) at the Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Read the study here.