Literature Review

Santas prepare to perform with compassion during holidays Marietta Daily Journal, Marietta, GA; by jlinder; 10/25/26 It may be the middle of the spooky season, but at the Hilton Marietta Conference Center, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas as dozens of Santa Clauses gathered to create holiday magic in a new kind of workshop. Smyrna couple Michelle and Paul Smith, longtime Christmas performers and cofounders of a new nonprofit called The Sleigh Society, hosted their first compassionate performer workshop to help fellow Santa Claus performers prepare for more sensitive interactions they may encounter during the holiday season. During the workshop, the Smiths invited medical and healthcare professionals to give advice for how performers can interact with their facilities’ most vulnerable patients, such as terminally ill children and elderly hospice patients.

Health systems are building for 2030 Becker's Hospital Review; by Laura Dyrda; 10/26/26 Health systems have spent years building organizational infrastructure around the work of gathering information, compiling reports and moving data between functions. Artificial intelligence is beginning to automate that work and in some systems, the displacement is already underway. Peter Banko, president and CEO of Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass., has said he expects AI to displace significant categories of work including roles in finance, law and administrative functions, and his system is already building retraining programs in response. Executives planning for the next three years are examining the existing organizational structure and questioning whether their purpose is still relevant, or needs a reboot.

Run to Remember Hospice raises over $11K in run and walk event NBC 10 News, Rochester, NY; by Hunter Wright News; 10/25/26UR Medicine Home Care held its inaugural Run to Remember Hospice, a 5K to raise funding for hospice care in the Rochester area, on Sunday morning. ... The 5K and a 1.25-mile walk both started at 9:30 a.m. Organizers say the event provided people with a way to honor loved ones who have received end-of-life care. The event included memorial signs honoring loved ones near the finish line, along with event shirts that had fingerprints of kids. ... The 5K and a 1.25-mile walk both started at 9:30 a.m. Organizers say the event provided people with a way to honor loved ones who have received end-of-life care. The event included memorial signs honoring loved ones near the finish line, along with event shirts that had fingerprints of kids. 

Self-disclosure pilot offers home-based care providers more clarity, but risks remain Home Health Care News; by MK Manoylov; 10/23/26 A new federal pilot program will allow healthcare companies, including home-based care providers, to self-report and rectify conduct, such as compliance issues. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Division announced the six-month self-disclosure pilot program on Thursday. The pilot provides more clarity on resolving certain civil billing violations, though concerns about repayment costs and risk exposure for small providers remain, home-based care industry experts told Home Health Care News.

CMS and states launch $275 million initiative to recruit and retain nurses in nursing homes CMS Newsroom; Press Release; 10/23/26 The new Nurses for Nursing Homes initiative is expected to support more than 4,000 nurses and nursing students nationwide, including those serving rural communities. Nursing students and licensed nurses interested in working in a nursing home may now qualify for up to $40,000 in student loan repayment and/or a $10,000 stipend in exchange for a three-year commitment to serve in a qualifying nursing home in a rural or higher labor-shortage area through a new $275 million nationwide initiative announced today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). 

Attorney General Bonta: 103 criminal cases filed in statewide Medi-Cal fraud enforcement efforts Office of the Attorney General - California Department of Justice, Los Angeles, CA; Press Release by Rob Bonta, Attorney General; 10/22/26 California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the results of a statewide effort over the last year targeting fraud in California’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. As a result of these efforts, felony charges were filed against 103 individual IHSS providers for allegedly defrauding the Medi-Cal program out of over $4.5 million dollars. “By enabling parents to care for their adult children with disabilities and allowing elderly individuals to age in place, IHSS provides a vital lifeline for families across the state. We are here to protect that lifeline,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “This isn’t a political game for us. This is about protecting taxpayer dollars, protecting the programs that sick and vulnerable Californians rely on, and protecting our state. ..."

Do industry payments influence end-of-life cancer care? Medscape; by Megan Brooks; 10/23/26 Patients treated by oncologists who receive personal payments from drug manufacturers are more likely to receive aggressive end-of-life care, a large Medicare study found. ... The analysis raises questions about whether financial relationships between oncologists and drug manufacturers may contribute to potentially burdensome care near the end-of-life, although the observational study cannot establish causation. The possibility that industry relationships may influence treatment decisions near the end-of-life is “profoundly upsetting, but not at all surprising,” Kerin Adelson, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, commented during the session.

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes ... ~ Jonathan Larson

How can you make a loved one's room more comfortable during hospice? WriteUpCafe; by Oakdale Heights Assisted Living; 10/22/26 Keep the room calm, clutter-free, and easy to see: soft but sufficient lighting, clear pathways, high-contrast items, familiar objects, and a predictable daily rhythm. Work with the hospice team on equipment and positioning, and ask the care staff where your loved one lives how they can help keep the routine steady. ...

CMS eyes reducing UPI contractors' role in bid to directly target Medicare fraud inside health policy InsideHealthPolicy; by Dorothy Mills-Gregg; 10/21/26 CMS is considering reducing the traditional role of Unified Program Integrity Contractors so it can take direct control over which providers and suppliers become targets of Medicare fraud investigations -- a move that McDermott Will & Schulte is flagging to providers and investors as potentially “one of the most significant changes to Medicare fraud enforcement in years.” The possible shift, laid out in an Oct. 5 CMS request for information on fraud defense, would reduce the traditional role of UPICs and instead have them primarily conduct CMS-directed investigations and help build administrative and enforcement cases. [Full access may be limited to a subscription]

The Washington Home invests $328K to reduce barriers to hospice care access for older adults across Washington, DC NewsNet, Washington, DC; by EIN Presswire; 10/22/26 The Washington Home (TWH) has launched its Hospice Access Collaboration, a new grant initiative designed to address barriers that prevent vulnerable DC residents from accessing hospice and other end-of-life support. Through a $327,814 investment in four partner organizations: Capital Caring Health – A Chapters Health® Affiliate, Forest Hills of DC – By Goodwin Living, Joseph’s House, and Sibley Memorial Hospital – Johns Hopkins Medicine, the collaboration will expand hospice-related care for 25 older DC residents and train 200 healthcare professionals in four key areas:

Best case/worst case: A multisite randomized trial of scenario planning for patients with late-stage kidney diseaseJournal of American Geriatrics Society; by Lily N. Stalter, Bret M. Hanlon, Kyle J. Bushaw, Jenna Nitkowski, Anne Buffington, Katharine L. Cheung, Amy B. Zelenski, Kristine Kwekkeboom, Amar D. Bansal, Deidra Candice Crews, Holly M. Koncicki, Daniel Lam, Alvin H. Moss, Maya K. Rao, Dawn Felicity Wolfgram, Jeniann Yi, Carrie Brill, Tamara Isakova, Margaret L. Schwarze; 9/26Best Case/Worst Case (BC/WC) is a communication tool to support nephrologists and older adults with advanced chronic kidney disease with decisions about dialysis. We compared the effectiveness of training nephrologists to use BC/WC versus usual care on receipt of palliative care, quality of life (QOL), quality of communication, dialysis initiation, and death. While we hypothesized that improving prognostic awareness and communication would increase palliative care utilization, the challenges of connecting patients with life-limiting kidney disease to palliative care are multifaceted, well documented, and likely not surmountable with a communication intervention alone. Conclusion: Training nephrologists to use the BC/WC communication tool does not significantly affect receipt of palliative care or other measurable clinical outcomes.