Literature Review

Staying 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.

Self-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.

Palliative 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.

Validation 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).

Healthcare 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. 

The 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. ...

25 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.

Here's a salute to 104-year-old World War II veteran Anita Morris Jacksonville.com - The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL; by Beth Reese Cravey; 12/18/25 Community Hospice & Palliative Care patient Anita Morris, right, receives a service flag from the guard's Amanda Boyd, a Boatswain's Mate Second Class. Morris, who enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942, was honored for her service as she approached her 104th birthday. ... She is a patient of Community Hospice & Palliative Care, which organized the ceremony. 

MAID: Medical Aid in Dying - Should Medical Aid in Dying be legal? Britannica; by The Editors of ProCon; 12/16/25

Is moral adequacy possible in the face of structural disadvantage? The experiences of health and social care staff in supporting homeless people using substances at the end of life Palliative Care and Social Practice; by Gary Witham https, Gemma Anne Yarwood, Sarah Galvani, Lucy Webb, and Sam Wright; 11/26/25 Background: Homeless people using substances at the end-of-life face many challenges in accessing and receiving good care. These can relate to poor interdisciplinary working by health and social care practitioners, stigma and structural disadvantage. Results: The data analysis resulted in three key discourse positions relating to how practitioners position themselves in relation to the practice challenges of supporting homeless people using AODs and approaching end of life. These were as follows: (i) what constitutes a good death and where, (ii) the limitations of professional boundaries and (iii) maintaining moral adequacy in the face of traumatic death.

Health systems shun black-box AI, choose human-validated models for safety and accuracy, survey finds Complete AI Training; 12/17/25 Hospitals and health systems are clear: AI should work with clinicians, not replace them. A new November 2025 market survey from Reaction Data, commissioned by Carta Healthcare, shows strong preference for "hybrid intelligence" - AI paired with clinical oversight - for safer, more reliable outcomes. The message is consistent across findings. Fully autonomous, black-box AI is viewed as risky and insufficient for high-stakes clinical use. Human validation and clinician involvement are seen as essential for accuracy, safety, and adoption.