Literature Review

Central Texas loses only pediatric hospice-at-home care as Dell Children's program closes Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX; by Nicole Villalpando; 10/31/26 Four years after it opened, Dell Children's Medical Center is closing its Hospice at Home program Friday. The program was designed to bring care to the home of a dying child, rather than to have the family go to a clinic for that care. In a statement from Dell Children's, the hospital said the program "is transitioning from home-based care to an outpatient clinic setting. That care will be provided through the Comprehensive Care Clinic, which specializes in children with complex diagnoses, many of whom might need hospice or palliative care. ... This move leaves Central Texas without a pediatric hospice provider for in-home care.

ECU Health hospice services transitioning to Liberty Home Care and Hospice WITN, Greenville, NC; by WITN Web Team; 10/30/26 ECU Health say its hospice and home health business units have been sold to a healthcare provider that’s served the Carolinas for more than 150 years. Effective Sunday [11/1], all ECU Health home health and hospice operations will be transferred to Liberty Home Care and Hospice. Those include home health officers in Greenville, Windsor, Washington and Kenansville, hospice offices in Greenville, Ahoskie and Kenansville, and the Service League of Greenville hospice house.

EverHeart Hospice and LeadingAge Ohio meet with state representative Angie King to discuss House Bill 945 EverHeart Hospice, Greenville, OH; Press Release; 10/26/26  EverHeart Hospice’s Senior Leadership Team, along with representatives from LeadingAge Ohio, met with State Representative Angie King to discuss House Bill 945 and its potential impact on hospice care across Ohio. The discussion focused on how House Bill 945 can help establish important safeguards to ensure patients and families have access to clear, reliable information when identifying quality, mission-driven hospice providers. Participants also discussed the importance of regulatory requirements that hold hospice organizations accountable to high standards of care.

ArcHouse CEO: ensuring safe, speedy hospice admissions Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 10/26/26 Effective and speedy admissions processes can have a significant influence on the quality of hospice care. This October, the Hospice News Elevate podcast explores the value of effective and efficient admissions, as well as the role of technology in that activity. Hospice News spoke with Paul Mocur, Jr., co-founder and CEO of ArcHouse, a pre-admission platform for care-at-home serving hospice, palliative, and home health providers.

ACG Hospice opens Martinsville office, adds local care option Martinsville Bulletin, Martinsville, VA; by Bill Wyatt; 10/24/26 A ribbon-cutting Wednesday marked the opening of ACG Hospice's Martinsville office at 156 E. Market St. The company provides in-home hospice care and support for patients and families facing end-of-life illnesses. "We specialize in providing that one-on-one care for the family and the patient," said Renee Martin, director of the Martinsville office. ... "We're already working hard and seeing patients," Latimer said. "We're excited to be able to serve more." ACG is new to Martinsville, Martin said, but has offices elsewhere in Virginia and other states. The company is part of Agape Care Group, a multistate hospice provider.

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:

SOS Y 1A34- How do utilization and process measures vary by hospice star rating, and do they differ by profit status?Substack; by Joan Teno; 10/19/26Hospice star ratings come from surveys of hospice primary caregiver after a loved one dies. In our analysis, hospices with more stars were more likely to have a nurse or social worker visit in the last days of life, and that pattern held for both for-profit and nonprofit hospices. But star ratings told us little about how often a hospice discharges patients before death or how much Medicare spends on each patient; on those measures, whether a hospice is for-profit or nonprofit mattered more. When choosing a hospice, look at the star rating, but also ask how often staff visit in the final days and whether the hospice is for-profit or nonprofit

Unmet needs of transgender and gender-diverse adults with serious illness receiving hospice and palliative care: A thematic scoping reviewAmerican Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care; by Emma Max, Steven Meanley, Nancy A Hodgson; 9/26Transgender and gender-diverse individuals experience higher mortality rates and elevated incidence of serious illness compared to cisgender populations. Despite these disparities, discrimination and stigma continue to create barriers to high-quality hospice and palliative care. A descriptive thematic analysis identified four categories of unmet needs: (1) competent healthcare professionals with gender-affirming training; (2) holistic, inclusive care delivery models; (3) family and chosen family engagement protocols; and (4) protective institutional policies and legal frameworks. This review exposes substantial under-resourcing of research on gender-diverse patients' end-of-life needs. Urgent priorities include systematic competency training for hospice and palliative care professionals, development of evidence-based clinical guidelines, advocacy for protective legal frameworks, and most critically, conducting robust qualitative and quantitative research centering transgender patients' lived experiences and priorities in serious illness care.

Respecting spinal cord injury patient autonomy in the context of terminal extubationJournal of Palliative Care; by Rainy B S Wortelboer, Lauren Hall, Fareea Khaliq; 9/26Terminal extubation ... is a legally and ethically accepted practice in the United States where mechanical ventilation is withdrawn when ongoing life-sustaining treatment no longer aligns with a patient's stated goals of care. Nearly 42% of intensive care unit deaths involve withdrawal of such measures. Discussions regarding goals of care may be complicated by quality-of-life concerns and potential ableist bias when physical dependence is misinterpreted as incompatible with meaningful life. We present a case-based ethical analysis of an 88-year-old male with traumatic high-level cervical SCI [spinal cord injury] who requested terminal extubation following prolonged hospitalization. After interdisciplinary evaluation confirmed decision-making capacity and with strong family support, he elected hospice care. He was extubated with palliative support and passed 48 h later. This case highlights the intersection of autonomy, capacity, and ethics in end-of-life decisions for patients with SCI and underscores the importance of ethical, patient-centered approaches when considering withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.

SBL Hospice Binga raises $31,000 for Willow Breeze Sarah Bush Lincoln; Press Release; 9/24/26 Sarah Bush Lincoln’s Hospice Binga event held in early September raised more than $31,000, with proceeds benefiting the Willow Breeze Hospice House Endowment. Earnings from the endowment help families with no or limited resources pay for their stay. ... “We’re so very grateful for our sponsors, donors, volunteers and Binga participants who come together to raise funds to help those in need,” said Amy Card, SBL Health Foundation director. “... The endowment is so important to help make it accessible to those who otherwise may not have the means to stay there.” Most insurance companies cover care in a hospice house, but many won’t cover room and board.   

People say they want to die at home. I think about it differently. Guest essay International New York Times; by Daniela J. Lamas; 9/29/26What is a good death? We tend to imagine a good death as one that takes place at home, far from the sounds and smells and lines and tubes of an intensive care unit, like the one where I work. I believed this for many years. But after a decade as an I.C.U. doctor, I've come to think we need a different definition of a good death. A death at home can be the right thing for a patient and his or her family. But it is not inherently better. An I.C.U. death can be peaceful and dignified. A death at home can be panicked and painful. Yet we have built a culture, and quality metrics, that treat I.C.U. care at the end of life as a failure. ... "dying." But sometimes intensive care is the right place to care for a dying patient.