Literature Review

What is end-of-life care at home? A complete guide for families exeleon | Healthcare; 9/28/26 A study published in Federal Practitioner in September 2025, using data from the CDC WONDER database, found that home was the most common place of death among cancer patients between 2003 and 2023, accounting for 40.3% of all recorded deaths. ... This guide walks through what services are typically included, how eligibility works, and what separates in-home support from care delivered in a facility. Along the way, it covers home care for end of life planning, the difference between hospice and general end-of-life support, and practical steps for arranging services quickly.

BrightSpring Health targets growth through specialty pharmacy, M&A and AI Ticker Report - BrightSpring Health Services; by Ethan Ryder; 9/27/26 BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ:BTSG) outlined its growth strategy across pharmacy and provider services at the Bernstein healthcare services conference, emphasizing specialty pharmacy expansion, home health acquisitions, technology investments and opportunities to integrate services for complex patients. ... The company divides its operations between pharmacy and provider services, with the premise that many patients require multiple services, including medications, primary care, home health, hospice and rehabilitation.

Default hospice consultation in comfort measures orders and hospice engagementJAMA Network Open; by L. Scott Sussman, John M. Henderson, Nancy Kim; 8/26Hospice improves end-of-life care quality yet remains underutilized, with persistent racial and ethnic access disparities. In this quality improvement study, embedding hospice consultation within CMO [comfort measures only] orders was associated with substantial and sustained increases in hospice engagement. Because hospice enrollment cannot occur without consultation, improving consult reliability represents a meaningful intervention. This project embedded hospice consideration directly into an existing clinical transition rather than relying on interruptive alerts or educational efforts alone. These findings contribute to evidence that EHR [electronic health record]-based behavioral nudges can guide clinicians in time-sensitive, high-stakes settings.

Interactive maps of aging: Judy Salerno and Lindsay Goldman GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Podcast for Every Healthcare Professional; pocast by Judy Salerno and Lindsay Goldman; 9/24/26 Love the story Judy Solerno tells at the start of this podcast. The story is about how John Snow, the father of modern epidemiology, mapped out cases of Cholera in London in the year 1854.  He was able to identify a concentration of cases near a neighborhood water pump.  Simply removing the handle from the pump halted the outbreak.  This is one of the earliest recorded uses of maps for public health purposes. Our guests today, Judy Salerno (President Emeritus of the New York Academy of Medicine) and Lindsay Goldman (CEO of Grantmakers in Aging) have done some wonderful work creating detailed, in-depth, interactive maps of aging in New York City. Go to IMAGENNYC and try it yourself.

Hospice of Humboldt expands in-home palliative care with $250K match Archynewsy; by D. Natalie Singh; 9/23/26Hospice of Humboldt has launched a $500,000 campaign to expand its Home-Based Palliative Care program, bolstered by a $250,000 matching gift from the owners of Premier Financial Group, according to reports from the Lost Coast Outpost. The program, which delivers medical care, symptom management, and care coordination directly to patients’ homes, currently serves 70 patients and families but sits at full capacity with a six- to eight-week waitlist.

Understanding low hospice utilization among ESRD patients0Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/21/260Hospice care is underutilized among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, often due to systemic factors. More than 831,000 Americans are living with kidney failure, according to the National Institutes of Health. In 2023 alone, new cases totaled 131,564. Yet, end-stage renal disease patients in 2024 represented 1.3% of Medicare decedents who elected the Medicare Hospice Benefit, the National Alliance for Care at Home reported. This was 24,336 patients.0Concerns over access to dialysis is a major contributor to the low utilization, according to Compassus Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kurt Merkelz.03330The prospect of giving up dialysis deters many ESRD patients from entering hospice. Those that do may come to hospice very late because once they stop dialysis the patient will have approximately one week to live, Merkelz said.

Gentiva Hospice opens new Peoria location to expand end-of-life care Nexstar local, Peoria, IL; by Kennedy Caldwell; 9/16/26 Gentiva Hospice is opening a new Peoria location as the healthcare provider looks to expand access to hospice and end-of-life care across Central Illinois. The new office, located at 3930 W. War Memorial drive, held an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday, the location will serve patients and families within an approximately 50-mile radius including Peoria, Knox, Fulton, Woodford, Tazewell, Marshall and Stark counties.

National trends in types of hospice disenrollment among older adults with dementia, 2012–2019 Journal of the American Geriatrics Society; by Lauren J. Hunt, Siqi Gan, Krista L. Harrison, Melissa D. Aldridge, Claire Ankuda, W. John Boscardin, Alexandra K. Lee, and Alexander K. Smith; 9/15/26 Key Points

NPHI urges CMS to build on hospice moratoriam with targeted enforcement Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/14/26 The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should follow the six-month moratoria on hospice and home health enrollment in Medicare with more pinpointed efforts to root out fraud, according to the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) implemented the moratoria in May. At the time, NPHI voiced support for the moratoria. The organization in March called for such action in a letter to CMS. Now, NPHI contends that the moratorium has “accomplished its intended purpose,” the nonprofit group said in a new letter to CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and CMS COO Kim Brandt. The temporary moratoria is scheduled to expire in November.

End-of-life care behind bars: regular reviews of articles and reports on key issues in prison hospice and palliative care.End-of-Life Care Behind Bars - A Periodic Literature Search; September 2026 issue Highlights: Prison palliative care and compassionate release should be treated as interconnected rather than competing mechanisms; the constitutional crisis of end-of-life care for incarcerated individuals; prison officers matter in end-of-life care; community hospice engagement in end-of-life care in prisons; person-first language in correctional healthcare – two perspectives; critical reappraisal of policy and practice in correctional healthcare; conducting ethical health research in prisons

Impact of outpatient palliative care consult triggers on end-of-life outcomes in a VA hematology/oncology clinic Medscape; by Morgan Lyttle, MD, Michelle Popadiuk, MBA, LPN, RHIT, ODS-C, Seema Limaye, MD, Alexi Vahlkamp, Shannon Carrigan, MD, and Jean Vendiola, MD; 9/4/26 ... Conclusions: Outpatient palliative care (PC) triggers successfully shifted referral origin from inpatient to outpatient, halved the rate of trigger-eligible patients not receiving PC, and maintained hospice engagement despite loss of the inpatient oncology service. Future directions include expanding triggers to other subspecialty clinics managing oncology patients.