Literature Review

Study: PE-owned hospices have highest profits, lowest spending on direct patient care McKnights Home Care; by Liza Berger; 10/8/25 Compared to publicly traded company-owned and other for-profit hospices, private equity (PE)-owned hospices reported the highest profits and lowest spending on direct patient care and nonsalary administrative services, a study published Tuesday in Health Affairs revealed. The study, which used 2022 Medicare cost reports, compared revenue and expense data across four hospice ownership models: PE-owned, publicly traded company-owned, other for- profit, and not-for-profit. The sample consisted of 2,989 freestanding hospices ... [Across] the board, not-for-profits spend about 20% more on direct patient care services than other for-profits. And that seems to be driven by a pretty big difference in nurse salaries, which to us implies that staffing tends to be better at or at least more robust at not-for-profits. ... A body of research has found that for-profit hospice ownership, including private equity, is associated with poorer quality, higher rates of complaints, a higher number of live discharges, and a higher hospitalization rate compared with not-for-profit ownership.

Experience is the teacher of all things. ~ Julius Caesar

Pine Tree Hospice celebrates 40th anniversary at Peaks Kenny State Park The Piscataquis Observer, Bangor, ME; by Staff, Piscataquis Observer; 10/6/25 Sixty-plus volunteers and their family members gathered on Saturday, Sept. 20 to celebrate Pine Tree Hospice’s 40 years of providing free care and comfort to families in the greater Piscataquis County community. ... Executive Director Kristen Wortman credits the group’s longevity to the devotion of its volunteers to serving isolated and often house-bound neighbors in their communities, caregivers and those grieving the loss of a loved one. Pine Tree Hospice continues to focus on neighbors helping neighbors. Services are free and provided to clients without medical referral.Editor's Note: Congratulations to this out-of-the-box, rural, "non-medical" hospice that saw end-of-life care needs and found creative "neighbors-helping-neighbors" ways to meet them. Put this into context of 1985, in an ongoing rural environment at the uppermost northeast corner of the U.S., long before Medicare became the norm. 

Winnetka man gets nearly 5 years for role in $16M Medicare fraud Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles, CA; by City News Service; 10/6/25 A San Fernando Valley man was sentenced Monday, Oct. 6, to four years and nine months behind bars for his role in conning Medicare out of nearly $16 million through sham hospice companies and then helping launder the illicit proceeds. Karpis Srapyan, 35, was also ordered to pay restitution of $3.2 million to Medicare, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Wisconsin rarely grants compassionate release as aging, ailing prisoners stress systems Wisconsin Watch; by Mario Koran and Sreejita Patra; 10/7/25 Increased use of compassionate release could ease costs and crowding with minimal risks to public safety, experts say. But it remains off limits to many prisoners. ... Wisconsin grants few applicants compassionate release, leaving many severely ill inmates in short-staffed prisons that often struggle to meet health care needs. Wisconsin courts approved just 53, or 11%, of 489 compassionate release petitions they received between January 2019 and June 2025 — about eight petitions a year, Corrections data show. Courts approved just five of 63 petitions filed in all of 2024. 

Healthcare AI in the United States — navigating regulatory evolution, market dynamics, and emerging challenges in an era of rapid innovationMondaq; by Jones Walker; 10/7/25... As 2025 progresses, the convergence of technological innovation, regulatory adaptation (or lack thereof), and market shifts has created remarkable opportunities and complex challenges for healthcare providers, technology developers, and federal and state legislators and regulatory bodies alike. The rapid proliferation of AI-enabled medical devices represents perhaps the most visible manifestation of this transformation. With nearly 800 AI- and machine learning (ML)-enabled medical devices authorized for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the five-year period ending September 2024, the regulatory apparatus has been forced to adapt traditional frameworks designed for static devices to accommodate dynamic, continuously learning algorithms that evolve after deployment. 

Terminally ill patients would be able to use medical marijuana in Pennsylvania hospitals under new bipartisan bill Marijuana Moment; by Kyle Jaeger; 10/6/25 Bipartisan Pennsylvania senators have introduced a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to use of medical marijuana in hospitals.Similar to a law previously enacted in California, the Pennsylvania legislation from Sen. John Kane (D) and 17 bipartisan cosponsors aims to ensure that cannabis patients with severe illnesses such as cancer retain access to regulated products as an alternative treatment option.

Why are more older people dying after falls? KFF Health News; by Paula Span; 9/30/25 ... Public health experts have warned of the perils of falls for older people for decades. In 2023, the most recent year of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 41,000 Americans over 65 died from falls, an opinion article in JAMA Health Forum pointed out last month. More startling than that figure, though, was another statistic: Fall-related mortality among older adults has been climbing sharply. ... [Death] rates from fall injuries among Americans over 65 had more than tripled over the past 30 years. Among those over 85, the cohort at highest risk, death rates from falls jumped to 339 per 100,000 in 2023, from 92 per 100,000 in 1990.  ...

These are the health insurers that quit Medicare Advantage Modern Healthcare; by Nona Tepper; 10/6/25 The Medicare Advantage market isn’t what it used to be, and some health insurance companies have had enough. At least seven insurers that offered Medicare Advantage plans this year abandoned the program for 2026 amid escalating spending, stricter regulation and narrowing margins, company and federal data show. Six carriers left the market ahead of the 2025 plan year, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data analyzed by the health policy research organization KFF. Leading Medicare Advantage insurers such as UnitedHealth Group subsidiary UnitedHealthcare, Humana and CVS Health subsidiary Aetna withdrew from hundreds of counties, cut supplemental benefits and pulled back on marketing for the same reasons.

Milton Village Open House builds community to support caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's, dementia, or other cognitive conditions GreatNews.Life; by Lauren Grasham; 10/6/25 To help healthcare providers better understand the numerous resources available, Milton Village hosted an open house on Tuesday, September 30. Milton Village is a collaborative effort between Milton Adult Day Services (a program of the Center for Hospice Care) and Alzheimer’s & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana (a REAL Services program) to provide comprehensive care and support to individuals living with Alzheimer’s or other cognitive conditions and their caregivers. “Inviting healthcare providers to see our facility and learn more about our programs is a great way to help them understand our unique model,” said Sarah Youngs, director of Milton Adult Day Services. “As providers tour the facility and hear how our guests engage in the programming, it’s so satisfying to see them recognize what this can mean for their patients and the patients’ caregivers.”

Studying connection at life’s end: Dean’s distinguished research fellowship captures social realities of dying individuals Royal Purple - founded 1901, La Crosse, WI; by UW-La Crosse University Marketing & Communications; 10/6/25 ... The project was sparked in late 2024 when [senior Maddi Jo] Baumann approached [faculty menot Angela] Geraci with an idea rooted in personal experience and public health urgency. Inspired in part by the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory on the loneliness epidemic, Baumann wondered: What happens socially to people who are dying? Key findings: what drives social change at the end of life? The team’s early findings point to several factors that influence social relationships during the dying process:

'Traffic light care model will help generations'BBC News, West Midlands, England; by Chloe Hughes; 10/6/25 A man with a neuromuscular condition has said that a model of care developed in Shropshire to help patients like him will benefit future generations. ... Part of his care has involved using the Oswestry model developed by Prof Tracey Willis from the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) and her husband, Prof Derek Willis, Severn Hospice's medical director. It uses a "traffic light system" to help neuromuscular teams identify key stages in a patient's journey, in which hospice involvement would improve their quality of life. ... Patients are identified as green, amber or red.

A CMO's guide to offering home health services HealthLeaders; by Christopher Cheney; 10/6/25 Offering home health services to patients after hospitalizations generates several benefits, including improved patient satisfaction, reduced readmissions, and lower cost of care. Key Takeaways: