Literature Review

Best Buy sells Current Health to former CEOModern Healthcare; by Caroline Hudson; 6/24/25Current Health cofounder Chris McGhee has reacquired the at-home care company from Best Buy Co. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed... Tech titan Best Buy announced plans to acquire Current in 2021 for about $400 million, as part of its push into the healthcare market. Current, which was founded in 2015, offers a platform for remote patient-monitoring, telehealth and patient engagement tools. It became an integral part of Best Buy Health’s efforts to expand at-home care services, including hospital-at-home technology... However, cracks in Best Buy’s healthcare strategy began to show months ago.

Medicaid Fraud Control Units Annual Report: Fiscal Year 2024OIG; 6/25/25OIG released a video highlighting the Medicaid Fraud Control Units' (MFCUs') annual report for Fiscal Year 2024. Watch a new video on MFCUs' key role in fighting health care fraud, waste, and abuse. In Fiscal Year 2024, 53 MFCUs recovered $3.46 for every $1 spent—totaling $1.4 billion in recoveries. Read the Full Report.Publisher's note: "Hospice" appears once in this report - page 7, Hospice (all settings) accounted for $20.9M of civil recoveries in 2024.

Elara Caring names new CEOMcKnight's Home Care; by Adam Healy; 6/25/25Elara Caring, a home health, home care and hospice provider serving 18 states, disclosed Wednesday that it has appointed Ananth Mohan as its new chief executive officer, effective immediately. He succeeds Scott Powers.

Experts share how to protect against the downsides of AI in healthcareHealthcare Brew; by Cassie McGrath; 6/25/25There’s a lot of hype about AI in healthcare, experts say, but being transparent is essential. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made its way into healthcare, from note-taking to voice agents. Conversations around liability and legislation are already happening, and there’s no doubt that AI is starting to change how care is delivered. Already 75% of big healthcare companies are “experimenting with or planning to scale generative AI across the enterprise,” according to Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. But less discussed are the potential downsides of this new technology...

California man pleads guilty in connection with laundering proceeds of $16M hospice fraud schemeUS Department of Justice press release; 6/23/25A California man pleaded guilty today to laundering more than $4.6 million in connection with a years-long scheme to defraud Medicare of nearly $16 million through sham hospice companies. According to court documents, Mihran Panosyan, ...worked with others to launder the proceeds of a massive Medicare fraud scheme, transferring the fraudulently obtained funds between multiple accounts before spending them. The scheme comprised three parts. First, three of Panosyan’s co-defendants used the identities of foreign nationals no longer in the United States to operate several sham hospice companies... Second, the co-defendants caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services for patients who were not terminally ill and who never requested nor received hospice services... Third, Panosyan and his co-defendants laundered the proceeds of the scheme to conceal the source of the funds and their control over them... He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

[New Brunswick, Canada] Brothers who gave $50K for palliative care room at nursing home learn tough lessonCBC News; by Hannah Rudderham; 6/20/25Von Weiler family's gift in dad's memory taken apart and moved without notice... Brothers Alan and Glenn von Weiler of Saint John say they'll be more careful about future donations and ask more questions. The moment brothers Alan and Glenn von Weiler saw the palliative care room at their father's former nursing home — created in his memory — was one for the books, they say. "I think my dad would have been so happy," Glenn said. "My dad believed in giving back to the community. He did that all his life, and now he was able to do it posthumously." But just over a year after they saw the new palliative care room at the Fundy Nursing Home in Blacks Harbour, the brothers have a sour taste in their mouths. They learned from staff at the home that the room has been taken apart.Publisher's note: While this story occurred in Canada, it's an important reminder to honor donor wishes.

Post-acute clinicians to CMS: Providers need better tech infrastructure for value-based careHome Health Care News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 6/20/25The Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (PALTmed) recently penned a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) advocating for the advancement and adoption of interoperable health information technology (health IT). PALTmed explained that the health care providers — especially post-acute and long-term care settings — are dealing with a worsening clinician shortage. It’s a pain point that greater access to health IT could help solve, according to the organization.

Leading PBMs face increasing scrutiny from statesHealthcare Brew; by Nicole Ortiz; 6/18/25Iowa is the latest to impose limits on how PBMs can operate in the state... It all started when Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law on April 16 saying any company that owns a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) would be prohibited from also owning or operating pharmacies in the state. That’s seemingly bad news for the Big 3 PBMs—Cigna Group’s Express Scripts, CVS’s Caremark, and UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx, which collectively control nearly 80% of the market—seeing as they all also operate pharmacy chains. Now the state of Iowa wants to get in on the action, with Governor Kim Reynolds signing a law on June 11 to change how PBMs operate in the state.

How palliative care can differentiate hospices in the marketplaceHospice News; by Jim Parker; 6/18/25Potential referral partners and investors often see palliative care as a value-add for a hospice, home health agency or other provider. Palliative programs are difficult to manage as a standalone business due to the lack of a robust reimbursement model. Most palliative care programs are reimbursed through fee-for-service Medicare, which only covers physician or nurse practitioner services and does not include the full range of interdisciplinary care. Some palliative care is also paid for through Medicare Advantage plans and Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), where care and payment models often vary. But in many cases, providers see those services as a loss leader or as a “feeder” for their hospice programs, Eugene Goldenberg, managing partner from the investment bank Edgemont Partners, said at the Hospice News Elevate conference in Orlando, Florida.

How do I adapt my leadership as my company grows?Harvard Business Review podcast; by Muriel Wilkins; 6/16/25She’s an entrepreneur who has led her company to a fair amount of success. After recently hitting a roadblock, she’s hired new talent and is looking to position her company for continued growth. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches her through how to adjust her leadership to keep pace with her growing business.

Whistleblowers receive $1.5 million for exposing alleged hospice kickback schemeWhistleblower Network News; by Geoff Schweller; 6/18/25On June 11, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia announced that Creative Hospice Care, Inc., and affiliated companies paid $9.2 million to settle whistleblower allegations that the entities violated the False Claims Act by entering into kickback arrangements with medical directors in exchange for referrals of hospice patients to Creative Hospice.

My one wild and precious life—The purpose of medical careJournal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Abinav K. Jyotis; 7/25“My One Wild and Precious Life - The Purpose of Medical Care”, contains reflections of a medical student as a naive little boy, inspired by his late grandfather, pinning to becoming a physician, who later struggles to find purpose in the unidealistic world of the current healthcare system. But, through his exposure to “Pallium India”, a non-profit palliative care organization in Kerala, India, healthcare once more gains meaning and signifies the importance of love and care amidst a patient's journey through pain and suffering.