Literature Review

Arden Home Health & Hospice expands services in Central MS and the Jackson Metro areaNewswire.com, Hattiesburg, MS; Press Release; 4/21/25 Arden Home Health & Hospice is proud to announce another major milestone in its continued expansion of services. On March 10, Arden officially announced the expansion of its home health services to Hinds, Rankin, Simpson, Lawrence, and Jefferson Davis counties, extending its commitment to compassionate, high-quality care to more patients and families across Central Mississippi. Also, this expansion means that Arden now provides both home health and hospice services throughout the entire Jackson Metro area, ... "We are thrilled to extend our services to these counties in the Jackson Metro areas, allowing us to bring the same standard of excellence that has defined Arden's care throughout Mississippi," said Abb Payne, Founder & CEO of Arden Home Health and Hospice. ... Over the past year, Arden has experienced record-breaking growth, more than doubling its workforce from just over 100 employees to now being over 280 A-Team members strong. 

Special team at Norton Children's Hospital focused on giving the gift of life CBS WLKY-32, Louisville, KY; by Jennifer Baileys; 4/21/25 Caring for sick and dying children is a tough and heartbreaking job. One special group at Norton Children's Hospital is focused on helping these children and their families. ... "She's missing the left side of her heart," Kindra Edwards, patient mother, said. ... Edwards said there was one consistent source of strength and encouragement the Norton Pediatric Support Team. "They're always there. You know, coming in, checking on us when in our multiple stays at the hospital," Edwards said. The team is made up of pediatric and palliative care specialists, nurses, social services, therapist and pastoral care. ... [Through two decades,] pediatric palliative care has evolved. At Norton Children's Hospital it has grown into a team of almost a dozen people, specializing in not just treating, but caring for the sickest patients and their families.

MedPAC identifies low rates of hospice use among kidney disease patients McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 4/17/25 Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) use hospice at far lower rates than patients with other conditions, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. In 2023, 31% of Medicare decedents with ESRD used hospice services, compared with 52% of all Medicare decedents. Hospice lifetime length of stay is also lower among decedents with ESRD, at a median of six days compared with 18 for all Medicare decedents, MedPAC commissioners said during their April meeting. ...

Coming Soon: Vitas Healthcare in Marion County South Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report, Ocala, FL; by cfelixcpa; 4/20/25 Florida is home to one of the country’s largest aging populations, with adults 65 and older making up 22 percent of its residents. As demand for hospice services rises statewide, VITAS Healthcare ... is expanding into Marion County. Beginning May 15, VITAS will accept patient referrals in the new service area. ... “Expanding into Marion County reflects VITAS’ ongoing commitment to improving access to high-quality hospice services for more Florida families,” said Angela Hamrick, vice president of operations.

Access to hospice and certain services under the hospice benefit for beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease and beneficiaries with cancer MedPAC; by Kim Nueman, Grace Oh, and Nancy Ray; 4/11/25 [From MedPac Presentation Roadmap, Meetings held April 10 & 11, 2025]

Death matters: Is there really no place like home when it comes to dying? Sequim Gazette, Sequim, WA; by Jeanette Stehr-Green Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County; 4/16/25 While not everyone has the chance to decide where they will die, most Americans say that given the choice, they would prefer to die at home. For most people, home is familiar and comfortable. It is more private than a room in a hospital or nursing facility, and more likely to allow intimate gatherings with family and friends. In the home, the dying person and their caregivers are more in control, deciding when to have visitors, eat, drink, or take medications. ... Planning, realistic expectations, and adequate support are key to keeping a dying person at home. Consider the following steps: ... Home might not be best ...

Integrating social determinants into palliative care Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 4/16/25 Strong staff education and reimbursement are among the keys to successfully integrating social determinants of health within a palliative care program. Screening tools developed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) include five areas of social determinants of health: food and housing insecurity, transportation needs, utility difficulties and interpersonal safety. Supplemental domains include financial stability, employment and family and social support, among others.

Join Rebecca Ramsey and Chris Comeaux in exploring the future of home care Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast by Chris Comeaux with Rebecca Ramsey; 4/16/25 In this episode of TCNtalks, host Chris Comeaux interviews Rebecca Ramsay, CEO of Housecall Providers.  Rebecca shares her unique journey in healthcare and emphasizes the importance of nonprofit organizations in delivering quality care. Rebecca discusses the evolution of Housecall Providers, the significance of home-based primary care, and the interdisciplinary approach required to meet the needs of patients with complex conditions. She also advocates for Hospice organizations to expand into home-based primary care, highlighting the growing demand and the gaps in current services.  Chris and Rebecca explore the challenges of maintaining a stable workforce, the complexities of payment structures, and the importance of a steady referral stream for viable home-based primary care.  

CMS clarifies physician referral authority, tightens attestation requirements in proposed hospice ruleInside Health Policy; by Jalen Brown; 4/11/25... The proposed rule would explicitly allow the physician member of the hospice interdisciplinary group (IDG) to recommend patients for hospice care, addressing a gap in current regulations over which physicians have that authority. While CMS already lets IDG physicians certify that a patient is terminally ill and eligible for hospice, the existing admission rules only name the hospice medical director or physician designee as authorized to recommend admission. CMS also wants to strengthen documentation requirements for hospice recertification, ... Starting at day 180 and every 60 days thereafter, Medicare requires a hospice physician or nurse practitioner (NP) to conduct a face-to-face visit with the patient before recertifying eligibility. After the visit, the clinician must provide a written attestation confirming that the visit occurred and was used to assess whether the patient still qualifies for hospice care. Under CMS' proposal, that attestation would also need to include the clinician's signature and the date signed, submitted as a clearly labeled section or addendum to the recertification form. 

Community Catalyst leads national response against new rule that threatens health care access Community Catalyst, Boston, MA; by Jack Cardinal; 4/11/25 Today, Community Catalyst organized hundreds of local, state and national partners to submit comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) opposing a new proposed rule from the Trump administration that would make it harder and more expensive for people to buy their own insurance on Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces and increase their medical debt. ... The administration’s own estimates suggest that as many as 2 million people will lose their coverage under this proposal, ...

Stroke deaths and their racial disparities increased over last 20 years EurekAlert! - American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); by Peer Review Publication; 4/9/25 Over the last two decades, ischemic stroke mortality rates in the U.S. have grown, with almost 3 in 10 deaths occurring at home, and increases particularly among racial minorities and rural residents. These growing disparities were among the findings of a new study publishing April 9, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Jason Lim of Georgetown University School of Medicine, U.S., and colleagues. ...  The analysis included 237,617 recorded ischemic stroke deaths. The study found that age-adjusted ischemic stroke mortality rates, after years of decline, have increased across all urbanization levels since 2009, with the most pronounced rises in non-metropolitan areas. Additionally, there has been a noticeable shift in the place of death, with more people dying at home instead of in hospitals or other medical facilities. From 1999 to 2020, the percentage of at-home deaths increased from 8.44% to 29.31%.Editor's note: Pair this research with ongoing shut-downs of rural hospitals, rural emergency room access, and more. This ongoing increase is one of many, ongoing alarms. Ethics. Integrity. Mission. It's past time to improve patient care.

Family Hospice partners with Alzheimer’s Association to expand educational outreach EIN Presswire.com, Atlanta, GA; by Brittany Brown; 4/8/25 Family Hospice announces an official partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, Georgia Chapter, to enhance educational outreach and raise awareness of available resources for individuals facing Alzheimer’s or other dementia.This collaboration will provide families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals with critical information on hospice and Alzheimer’s and dementia-related support. As part of this effort, Family Hospice and the Alzheimer's Association are planning an upcoming statewide initiative in Georgia aimed at expanding awareness and support. Both organizations will share educational materials at community events and through social media to ensure families and caregivers have access to the guidance they need. [Continue reading ...]

Las Vegas’ non-profit urges families to research hospice care after facilities see surge of transfers, neglect Fox-5 KVVU-TV, Las Vegas, NV; by Jaclyn Schultz; 4/9/25 The Las Vegas Valley’s only non-profit hospice is among many facilities urging families to thoroughly research their choice of hospice care, after doctors see a rise in patients seeking transfers after suffering from neglect or poor care somewhere else. FOX5 told you how numerous doctors called for tougher hospice care standards across Nevada, as Assembly Bill 161 progresses through the Legislature. Nathan Adelson Hospice tells FOX5, from 2022 to 2024 alone, the non-profit took in more than 150 transfers from other facilities across the Las Vegas Valley. The rise coincides with another trend: more than 250 new facilities opening up across the Las Vegas Valley, as other neighboring states enact tougher regulations. [Continue reading ...]