Literature Review
The future of the hospice physician: HOPE, staffing & technology
12/21/25 at 03:15 AMThe future of the hospice physician: HOPE, staffing & technology Maxwell TEC; podcast by Tom Maxwell with Dr. Andrew Mayo and Dr. Tiffany Richter; 12/15/25... In this episode, Tom sits down with two of the most respected clinical leaders in the country: Dr. Andrew Mayo (Chief Medical Officer, St. Croix Hospice) and Dr. Tiffany Richter (Chief Medical Officer, Agape Care Group). They break down the debate between full-time vs. contracted physicians, the "hybrid" model that is winning, and the heartbreaking regulatory gaps preventing dialysis patients from accessing hospice care. Plus, they share deeply personal stories that remind us why we do this work.
Executive Personnel Changes - 12/5/25
12/21/25 at 03:10 AMExecutive Personnel Changes - 12/5/25
Illinois is newest state to allow medical assistance in dying after Pritzker signs bill
12/21/25 at 03:05 AMIllinois is newest state to allow medical assistance in dying after Pritzker signs billCBS News, Chicago; by Sara Tenenbaum and Charlie De Mar; 12/12/25, 11:02 am CST Gov. JB Pritzker signed a new law Friday making Illinois the newest state allowing medically assisted dying in terminally ill residents. Known as "Deb's Lawn," allows eligible terminally ill adults with a prognosis to live six months or less to request a prescription from their doctor that would allow them to die on their own terms. The legislation was narrowly approve by the Illinois Senate in October after the Illinois House passed it in May. People on both sides of the debate over the controversial legislation lobbied the governor up until the last minute. Medical aid in dying, also called assisted suicide or dying with dignity, is already legal in 12 states. Eight more are considering similar legislation. Pritzker's signature makes Illinois the first state in the Midwest to allow medically assisted death.Click here for Governor Pritzker's press release; click here for the text of SB1950.
Sunday newsletters
12/21/25 at 03:00 AMSunday newsletters focus on headlines and top read stories of the last week (in order) - enjoy! Also, remember our Job Board to find staff for the new year!
Blessed is the season...
12/21/25 at 03:00 AMBlessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. ~Hamilton Wright Mabie
David J. Jones appointed CEO of Sacred Heart, parent of Faith and Freudenthal Home Health & Hospice
12/21/25 at 03:00 AMDavid J. Jones appointed CEO of Sacred Heart, parent of Faith and Freudenthal Home Health & Hospice EIN Presswire; by Creach Family Holdings; 12/16/25 Sacred Heart, the parent organization of Faith Home Health & Hospice and Freudenthal Home Health & Hospice, is proud to announce the appointment of David J. Jones as its new Chief Executive Officer. David brings more than 22 years of experience in home health, hospice, and therapy services to the role.
Today's Encouragement
12/20/25 at 03:55 AMA holiday gives one a chance to look backward and forward, to reset oneself by an inner compass. ~May Sarton
When the nurse becomes the daughter: Lessons from my father's final days
12/20/25 at 03:45 AMWhen the nurse becomes the daughter: Lessons from my father's final daysAmerican Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care; by Keshia R Brown; 11/25Military service demands sacrifice, but no professional challenge prepared me for the deeply personal experience of caring for my father at the end of his life. This experience transformed my understanding of nursing by revealing the profound impact of presence, love, and dignity-centered care. Caring for my father illuminated the intersection of professional skill and personal devotion, demonstrating that the heart of nursing extends beyond clinical interventions. It resides in honoring the whole person and offering unwavering compassion in their most vulnerable moments. This narrative reflects on the emotional, ethical, and spiritual lessons learned as I walked my father through his final chapter-an unexpected gift and the greatest honor of my nursing career.
Software as a medical practitioner—Is it time to license artificial intelligence?
12/20/25 at 03:40 AMSoftware as a medical practitioner—Is it time to license artificial intelligence?JAMA Internal Medicine; by Eric Bressman, Carmel Shachar, Ariel D. Stern, Ateev Mehrotra; 11/25The Healthy Technology Act of 2025, a bill being considered by Congress, would permit artificial intelligence (AI) systems to prescribe medications without human sign-off. While allowing AI to practice independently may still be a stretch, large language models are already being used to support diagnosis and treatment. These applications challenge the current regulatory framework for clinical AI, which has focused on software as a medical device (SaMD). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared more than 1000 AI tools using this framework, mostly for narrow, well-defined tasks. However, generative models can be applied across domains, straining the SaMD framework. In this Viewpoint, we explore the application of a licensure paradigm to clinical AI systems, arguing that this offers a more reliable regulatory framework.
Navigating loss: An in-depth exploration of grief and spiritual resilience in Hispanic and Latino cultures
12/20/25 at 03:30 AMNavigating loss: An in-depth exploration of grief and spiritual resilience in Hispanic and Latino culturesUrban Social Work; by Angelica Olivo; 11/25This was a phenomenological study that highlighted how culture, spirituality, and coping mechanisms influenced Hispanic and Latino community grief. ... [The study] identified themes on death beliefs, traditional grieving practices, cultural taboos, family roles, and religious faith, providing rich data on cultural and spiritual factors in grief. The themes that emerged from the analysis were related to death beliefs, traditional grieving practices, cultural taboos, family roles, and religious faith. Findings supported a second line of evidence that diverse subgroups and the longitudinal grief experience may better inform understandings of, and improve cultural competency in, bereavement support.
Staying connected: A longitudinal, multisite, interprofessional rural fellowship collaboration
12/20/25 at 03:25 AMStaying connected: A longitudinal, multisite, interprofessional rural fellowship collaborationJournal of Pain & Symptom Management; by Rhianon R. Liu, Rebecca N. Hutchinson, Stephen H. Berns, Nastasha Stitham, Jackie Fournier, John W. Wax MD , Lisa A. Stephens, Jonathan S. Jolin, Maxwell T. Vergo; 11/25Four interprofessional Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) fellowship programs in rural northern New England states created an in-person educational retreat series. The goal of the series was to maximize shared educational resources and foster community amongst faculty and fellows, in an upstream attempt to improve recruitment/retention of clinicians in three rural states with inadequate access to specialty palliative care. At least 88% of fellows rated the retreats effective in strengthening their clinical, communication, teamwork, and leadership skills. Over four-fifths of faculty and fellows felt the retreats increased their sense of belonging and decreased professional isolation. The retreats were a top factor influencing fellowship choice for 29% of fellows, as well as a major incentive to remain practicing in the region for 32% of faculty.
Home Health Aides caring for adults with heart failure-A pilot randomized clinical trial
12/20/25 at 03:20 AMHome Health Aides caring for adults with heart failure-A pilot randomized clinical trialJAMA Network Open; by Madeline R. Sterling, Cisco G. Espinosa, Sasha Vergez, Margaret V. McDonald, Joanna Ringel, Jonathan N. Tobin, Samprit Banerjee, Nicola Dell, Lisa M. Kern, Monika M. Safford; 11/25Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an education- and communication-based intervention among HHAs caring for patients with HF. In this pilot randomized clinical trial including 102 agency-employed HHAs randomized to training alone or in addition to an application that allowed HHAs to exchange text messages with nurse supervisors, training improved HHAs’ HF knowledge and HF caregiving self-efficacy. The addition of the application did not improve these primary outcomes, but it significantly reduced HHAs’ self-reported preventable 911 calls, a secondary outcome.
Self-efficacy change among diverse family caregivers in dementia care
12/20/25 at 03:15 AMSelf-efficacy change among diverse family caregivers in dementia care The Journals of Gerontology Series B; by Deborah M Oyeyemi, Erich J Greene, Yunshan Xu, David R Lee, Rafael Samper-Ternent, Maya L Lichtenstein, Alan Stevens, Jeff D Williamson, Arun S Karlamangla, Debra Saliba, David B Reuben; 11/25Objectives: to determine whether changes in caregiver self-efficacy (beliefs about one’s ability to manage dementia-related problems and access help) differed by caregiver race and ethnicity across all participants enrolled in a large pragmatic trial of comprehensive dementia care. Black, Latino, and White dementia caregivers reported similar improvements in caregiver self-efficacy after participating in a comprehensive dementia care trial. Caregiver self-efficacy change did not differ significantly by caregiver race and ethnicity. Personalized aspects of comprehensive dementia care appear to address the needs of diverse caregiver populations.
Interdisciplinary training to enhance home health clinician knowledge of palliative care: Findings from the PIVOT pilot study
12/20/25 at 03:10 AMPalliative care specialist use among Medicare decedents who had poor-prognosis cancers
12/20/25 at 03:05 AMPalliative care specialist use among Medicare decedents who had poor-prognosis cancersJAMA Network; by Isaac S. Chua, Haiden A. Huskamp, Ateev Mehrotra, Andrew D. Wilcock; 7/25Has specialty palliative care (PC) use among Medicare decedents who had cancers with poor prognoses changed in the context of greater telehealth use and more advanced practice clinicians in the field? In this cohort study..., the proportion with specialty PC use increased 24% from 2018 to 2023 [from 30% to 37%], largely driven by outpatient encounters and care by advanced practice clinicians. Decedents who were older, had lower incomes, and were living in nonmetropolitan areas remained less likely to receive any PC... These findings suggest that different strategies are needed to increase PC use among some disadvantaged subpopulations.Publisher's Note: Similar to Hua's article (Validation of a claims-based algorithm for specialist palliative care delivery in metastatic cancer), palliative care specialists were defined as those with NPI provider specialty code 17 or those who included an ICD-10 Z51.5 code on at least 80% of their evaluation and management encounters.
[South Korea] Factors influencing burnout among hospice and palliative care ward nurses
12/20/25 at 03:05 AM[South Korea] Factors influencing burnout among hospice and palliative care ward nursesJournal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Young-Mi Kim, Chieun Song, Jeoungmin Park; 11/25This study aimed to identify the factors influencing burnout among nurses in hospice and palliative care units. This descriptive correlational study investigated the effects of nursing practice environment, resilience, and nurses' character on burnout among hospice and palliative care ward nurses. The participants were 217 nurses working in hospice wards of 20 institutions selected from the 88 inpatient hospice and palliative care institutions designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in South Korea, as of 2021. The results showed that a better nursing practice environment and higher resilience were positively associated with lower burnout. Among hospice and palliative care nurses, being in their 30s and having fewer than 5 years of total clinical experience were associated with higher burnout.
Validation of a claims-based algorithm for specialist palliative care delivery in metastatic cancer
12/20/25 at 03:00 AMValidation of a claims-based algorithm for specialist palliative care delivery in metastatic cancerJournal of Pain and Symptom Management; by May Hua, Zhixin Yang, Ling Guo, J Brian Cassel, R Sean Morrison, Guohua Li; 11/25The lack of valid methods to identify specialist palliative care (PC) delivery in population-level data impedes comprehensive understanding of its use... We developed a claims-based algorithm to identify specialist PC, using a physician billing claim from a known PC clinician as the gold standard, retaining candidate variables with a positive predictive value (PPV) >60%... A simple algorithm can identify receipt of specialist PC care in Medicare claims for patients with metastatic cancer with reasonable accuracy.Publisher's Note: While this is a statistically sophisticated article, findings support use of the palliative care provider specialty code (Provider Specialty Code 17) and encounter for palliative care code (ICD-10 Z51.5) to identify specialist palliative care delivery in a specific population (Medicare beneficiaries with metastatic cancer claims).
[China] The role of emotional intelligence in end-of-life care: A scoping review of studies involving healthcare professionals
12/20/25 at 03:00 AMClarification
12/20/25 at 03:00 AMClarification: Dr. Byock reached out to clarify that the fee-for-service performance margins he cited are from 2020. He regrets not making that clear in the paper. He’s been made aware of recently updated figures from 2023 that reflect significantly diminished margins of 13.7% for for-profits and -1.3% for non-profits (MedPAC 12/5/25). This reflects a serious downward trend that obviously threatens non-profits hospice providers. This dangerous trend highlights the need for strenuous efforts to shift to quality-based competition, making success in the marketplace dependent on demonstrated quality of care and outcomes, particularly patient-family experience.
Hospice, heal thyself
12/19/25 at 03:00 AMHospice, heal thyselfHealth Affairs; by Ira Byock; 12/18/25Placeholder - working on summary
Healthcare AI trends and the new urgency for AI in healthcare
12/19/25 at 03:00 AMHealthcare AI trends and the new urgency for AI in healthcare Presidio; by Presidio - Insight Blog; 12/18/25Presidio’s new report, “Unlocking Healthcare’s AI Potential,” brings together the voices of more than a thousand physicians and nurses across the U.S., U.K., and Ireland who live with these shortcomings every shift. Their experiences paint a picture of a system that is straining under the weight of outdated tools, even as new approaches offer a way to rebuild on stronger ground.
25 years of progress: ELNEC and AACN transforming palliative nursing education
12/19/25 at 03:00 AM25 years of progress: ELNEC and AACN transforming palliative nursing education Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing - JHPN / HPNA; by Cassandra Godzik, PhD, APRN, CNE, Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN, FAAN, Robert Rosseter, MBA, MS, FAAN, Pamela Malloy, MN, RN, FPCN,Jennifer DiBenedetto, PhD, APRN, Polly Mazanec, PhD, AOCN, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN; 12/25 In the year 2000, leaders with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing joined with Dr. Betty Ferrell and her colleagues at City of Hope to address gaps in how nurses are educated to care for patients at the end-of-life and their families. ... To date, more than 1.7 million nurses have been educated with the ELNEC curriculum, and more than 1200 undergraduate and 440 graduate schools of nursing offer ELNEC training in palliative end-of-life care. The remarkable academic-practice partnership at the heart of ELNEC has dramatically changed nursing care for patients with serious illnesses and their families in the United States and globally. ... Editor's Note: As ELNEC celebrates its 25th anniversary, we honor a leadership legacy that has transformed nursing education and elevated end-of-life care worldwide. What began as a visionary collaboration between AACN and Dr. Betty Ferrell at City of Hope has become a global standard—preparing nurses for clinical excellence, compassionate presence, and interdisciplinary care. With deep appreciation, we celebrate Dr. Betty Ferrell, ELNEC, AACN, City of Hope, and the leaders who continue to champion this vital work forward.
IAHPC photo contest: We have our winners!
12/19/25 at 03:00 AMIAHPC photo contest: We have our winners! International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (IAHPC); 12/18/25 Our members submitted an incredible array of images that expressed moving moments, illustrated challenges, and showed the beauty of palliative care in their daily work. It required four rounds of judging by our five-member panel, plus a Zoom meeting at the end, to narrow the selection of 186 photos sent in and settle on the winners. [View]
The results are in: Palliative care professionals share how they’re doing in 2025
12/19/25 at 03:00 AMThe results are in: Palliative care professionals share how they’re doing in 2025Center to Advance Palliative Care - CAPC; by Rachael Heitner, MPH; 12/16/25 CAPC’s second annual Palliative Pulse survey offers insight on how palliative care professionals across the country are feeling this year and what they’re focused on—see how they responded. ... In this blog, we share four key findings from participants’ self-reports and take a closer look at the data behind each one. ...