Literature Review

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.

Nearly half of veterans with stage IV cancer die without hospice: a national VHA analysis of 45,397 decedents Medscape; by Sasmith Menakuru, MD; Alexander Quattlebaum, MD; Chance Bloomer, MD; Lara Khoury, MD; Abdulsabur Sanni, MD; Michael Goodman, MD; 9/3/26  Results: Of 45,937 veterans, 20,338 ... had no hospice admission or consultation.  ... Conclusions: Hospice access for veterans with Stage IV cancer deteriorated during COVID-19 and shows no meaningful recovery; ... These findings identify Stage IV hospice access as an underrecognized national VHA quality priority warranting Stage IV—triggered automated palliative care consultation, embedded outpatient palliative care in oncology clinics, standardized referral protocols at documented progression, and veteran/family-facing hospice education. This analysis establishes a statistically rigorous national baseline for benchmarking interventions–and a call to action for the VHA oncology community to restore hospice as a core element of veteran-centered end-of-life care.

Stillwater Hospice brings palliative care to rural populations Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/2/26 Indiana-based Stillwater Hospice recently completed a rural palliative care pilot that the nonprofit plans to extend into a long-term program. The program’s roots were planted in October 2025. It emerged from a collaboration with Cameron Health, a community hospital in Angola, Indiana. ... Through the program, seriously ill patients who have been recently discharged from Cameron have access to a nurse practitioner for symptom management, patient and family education and goals-of-care conversations. Patients receive a phone call within three days of discharge and a visit within a week, ...

'They took care of me too': HIA Heather's House marks 1-year, nearing 400 patients InForum | Fargo Forum, Fargo, ND; by Kevin Wallevand; 8/28/26 Heather's House is celebrating its first year open, with nearly 400 patients receiving care through HIA so far this year. [HIA's Heather's House is North Dakota's first freestanding, inpatient hospice house. HIA had previously been known as Hospice of the Red River Valley before changing its name in June.] Editor's Note: Congratulations on this significant success. From an article we posted one year ago when they opened: "Ground was broken for the facility three years ago and administrative offices were moved into the building in February, but the dream began many years before that with hospice trailblazers Mary Lou Dahms, Sonia McManus and Edie Lohr." Be inspired by connecting-the-dots between their "dreams" and your own with today's "Today's Encouragement."

An exploration of gratitude on well-being in hospice and palliative care familial caregiversJournal of Palliative Medicine; by Kathryn Levy, Pei C Grant, Hannah Rachiele, Gina Schuster, Jonathan L Rossi, Sheila Conboy, Andrew Gasper, Christopher W Kerr; 7/26Familial caregivers (FCGs) play a critical role in health care by providing unpaid care to loved ones with serious illness. Although caregiving is often associated with emotional and physical burden, increasing attention has been directed toward potential sources of meaning and psychological growth, including gratitude. Higher levels of gratitude were associated with greater flourishing and recognition of positive caregiving experiences and were inversely associated with caregiver strain among FCGs of hospice and palliative care patients. Future longitudinal and intervention-based research is needed to determine whether gratitude-focused approaches can improve resilience, psychological well-being, and relational connection in end-of-life caregiving.