Literature Review

Hospice News’ 10 most-read stories of 2025 Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 12/19/25 Large acquisitions, regulatory headwinds and the fate of COVID-era telehealth flexibilities were top-of-mind issues for hospice providers in 2025, as evidenced by the 10 most-read Hospice News stories of the year. ... The following are the 10 most-read Hospice News articles of 2025.

IAHPC 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]

Clarification: Dr. Byock reached out to clarify that the fee-for-service performance margins he cited (Hospice, heal thyself) 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.

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. ~Oprah Winfrey

Hospice enrollment in young adult LGBTQ + decedents with cancer: A multi-site single healthcare system studyBMC Palliative Care; by Sanjna Rajput, Riham Suleiman, Brittany Kimball, Aminah Jatoi, Elizabeth Cathcart-Rake; 11/25Methods [of the study]: A single healthcare system, 4000 + self-reported LGBTQ + database of patients with cancer identified young adult decedents (18-39 years old at death) to report the percentage who died with hospice, the conversations that preceded hospice enrollment, time-on-hospice, and circumstances that surrounded the deaths of those not enrolled. From the database, ... 67% ... were enrolled in hospice ... Conversations that preceded enrollment discussed (1) limited cancer therapeutic options with worsening end-of-life symptoms and how hospice could help ("discussed… decline and how patient would not want to die hooked up to machines"); (2) medical staff's acknowledgement of same sex spouse/life partners ("[She] is here with her wife"); (3) the inclusion of the birth family in end-of-life discussions, especially if the decedent had been single ("Her father met us… this was difficult news for him to hear.").  Conclusions: Most young adult LGBTQ + decedents with cancer receive hospice services with thoughtful and inclusive conversations that precede enrollment.

Hospice and palliative medicine fellows' perspectives on physician-assisted dying education: Hospice and palliative medicine fellows' perspectives on physician-assisted dyingJournal of Pain and Symptom Management; by James Cescon, Antoinette Esce, Melanie Koren, Edith Meyerson, Mollie A Biewald, Robert M Arnold, Anup Bharani, Laura Belland; 11/25Physician-Assisted Dying (PAD) is legal in a growing number of U.S. states, with access expanding nationally due to recent legislative changes. An anonymous nine-item survey was sent to all HPM fellows (N=21) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. All respondents agreed that learning about PAD in fellowship is important. Topics of interest included ethical considerations (95%), legal criteria (86%), responding to requests in serious illness conversations (86%), navigating requests (76%), and pharmacology/modes of ingestion (71%). While only 10% intended to provide PAD in future practice, 57% were unsure or had not thought about it, and 33% were not considering it. These findings underscore a clear educational need and may guide curriculum development.

[Saudi Arabia] Comparison of end-of-life care between patients with hematological malignancies versus solid tumors: A retrospective analysisJournal of Palliative Care; by Salma Almusaed, Kim Sadler, Walaa Abdulmutaali, Gassan Abudari, Steven Callaghan, Mahmoud Sroor, Muneerah Almutairi, Mohammed AlGhamdi, Muruf Zaid Alshalwah, Sameer Desai, Nessreen Abu Alsalhm, Khloud Alzain; 11/25While specialized palliative care (PC) is well-established for managing STs [solid tumors], its integration into HMs’ [hematological malignancies] care remains less common despite evidence of its benefits. The cohort consisted of 350 adult patients, of whom 86 (24.6%) had HMs and 264 (75.4%) had STs. Overall, HMs patients received more aggressive end-of-life care, including higher rates of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions (81.4% vs 17.8%), intubation (36% vs 8.3%), disease-modifying treatments (23% vs 3.8%), as well as more enteral feeding, dialysis, blood transfusions, and antimicrobial use. Their resuscitation discussions occurred closer to death (3 vs 16 days ... ). Additionally, HMs patients had fewer referrals to PC services (43% vs 79.2% ... ), and most of them died in the ICU (59.3% vs 18.2% ... ).

Hospice Coalition Questions and Answers: October 23, 2025Palmetto GBA; 12/10/2025Includes Coalition questions, Hospice Appeals Reports, and Hospice CAP Updates.

Is attending to clinician distress our job? Sara Johnson, Yael Schenker, & Anne KellyGeriPal; by Eric Widera, Alex Smith, Sara Johnson, Yael Schenker, Anne Kelly; 12/18/25Have you had one of those consults in which you’re thinking, huh, sounds like the patient’s goals are clear, it’s really that the clinician consulting us disagrees with those goals? To what extent is it our job as consultants to navigate, manage, or attend to clinician distress? What happens when that clinician distress leads eventually to conflict between the consulting clinician and the palliative care team? Today our guests Sara Johnson, Yael Schenker, & Anne Kelly discuss these issues.

CMS weighs advance care planning quality measure for nursing homesMcKnight's Long-Term Care News; by Kimberly Marselas;12/16/25Nursing homes could soon be measured on their ability to capture advance care planning documents for their patients, according to a federal publication. On Monday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its 2025 list of measures under consideration. Among 24 new or updated metrics pitched for a range of Medicare programs, just one would directly affect skilled nursing: Advance Care Planning.