Literature Review

Saad Healthcare, Providence Hospital open hospice unit Bay Business News; 8/8/25 USA Health Providence Hospital opened a new in-hospital hospice unit, operated in partnership with Saad Healthcare, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house earlier today on the hospital’s 11th floor. The newly renovated unit will provide hospital-based hospice care, offering specialized, compassionate support for patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families in a comfortable, dignified setting. This addition reflects a growing national emphasis on integrating hospice services into hospital environments to enhance patient care, reduce costs and improve quality of life during critical times.

Enloe Health picks Butte Home Health and Hospice for post-hospital care in Chico Action News Now, Chico, CA; by Will Anderson; 8/6/25 Enloe Health has announced a new partnership with Butte Home Health and Hospice to enhance care for patients moving from hospital to home. Officials say this change comes as Enloe Health plans to close its own Home Health and Hospice programs by Oct. 31, 2025. Butte Home Health and Hospice, based in Chico, will now be the preferred provider for skilled nursing, rehabilitative care, and hospice services for Enloe Health patients.

Why AI isn't your advantage — your people are Entrepreneur; by Bidhan Baruah; 8/6/25 ... AI can indeed be beneficial, but only if you have the right people who can guide it thoughtfully and strategically. Key Takeaways:

Closing the gap: Addressing social determinants of health and racial disparities in hospice care Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); by Alyson Cutshall; 8/4/25... While Americans’ health trajectories are inevitable at the time they become eligible for hospice services, SDOH (Social Determinants of Health) still play a major role for the patients and families our field is privileged to serve. ... [To] fully impact health equity, we must be cognizant of other examples of SDOH, such as racism and implicit bias.  Unfortunately, our collective field has not been as successful in addressing access to hospice care across differing racial and ethnic groups. ... Certainly, there are some pockets of improved access.  One Teleios member organization, Ancora Compassionate Care, recognized the alarming disparities within its community and set about to create change. Ancora leaders recognized that the Black community in their service area typically placed high trust in their religious leaders. To better understand their needs and preferences regarding end-of-life care and services, Ancora embarked on a "listening tour" to gather feedback and insights from these religious leaders. Using the wisdom imparted, Ancora adapted their care delivery to be more inclusive to the Black community.  As such, the organization is making incremental improvements in lessening the racial divide in access to hospice care.

How proposed home health cuts could impact hospices  Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 8/1/25Proposed cuts to home health payments for 2026 could have somewhat of a ripple effect on hospices. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has called for a 6.4% aggregate cut to home health payments for 2026 in a proposed rule. The total reductions amount to $1.135 billion. This is the fourth straight year in which CMS has cut or proposed to cut home health payments. Due to this proposed rule, the agency has “failed” providers, according to Dr. Steven Landers, CEO for the National Alliance for Care at Home.

Agrace: Selected as preferred hospice provider to Crossing Rivers Health WisBusiness; Prairie du Chien, WI; Press Release; 7/30/25 Agrace, Wisconsin’s largest nonprofit hospice, is pleased to announce that after months of discussions with Crossing Rivers Health, it will take over the health system’s hospice program. The two organizations have also entered into a Preferred Partner Agreement to support the local community’s ongoing needs for high quality end of life care. This agreement comes three months after Agrace’s preferred partnership with Oakwood Village Communities and supports Agrace’s rapid growth across the state of Wisconsin. Crossing Rivers Health, based in Prairie du Chien, has decided to close its hospice service line to focus on their core healthcare services. Current Wisconsin Crossing Rivers Health Hospice patients will have the option to transition to Agrace’s care by the end of September. 

National Alliance CEO Dr. Steve Landers: Hospice reform should mean more care, not less Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 7/28/25 Hospice reform efforts should focus on allowing for “more care, not less,” according to National Alliance for Care at Home CEO Dr. Steve Landers. Key elements of this should include home-based respite care and a payment system for high-acuity palliative services that hospice patients often lose out on due to the costs. ... “It means innovation in care, home-based respite services, better payment models for people that need things like dialysis or palliative radiation,” Landers said at the Alliance’s Financial Summit in Chicago. “That is that reform we’re talking about.” ... Landers also said that attempts at hospice reform should not “carve-in” hospice into Medicare Advantage. Bringing hospice under Medicare Advantage would undermine patient choice, adversely impact timely access to care and leave providers with lower reimbursement rates, according to the Alliance, the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) and LeadingAge

Hospice East Bay workers to strike Tuesday KRON-4, Bay Area, CA; by Bay City News; 7/29/25 Hospice East Bay workers say they will strike Tuesday to protest spiking caseloads. Nearly 80 nurses, social workers, chaplains and bereavement counselors at Hospice East Bay joined the National Union of Healthcare Workers in 2023. The group said they’re still seeking their first contract after about 18 months of negotiations. The group said Friday in a statement they “are fed up with a severe understaffing of nurses and frustrated that management is bargaining in bad faith and refusing to enshrine existing patient care protocols into a contract before the hospice turns over control to an out-of-state chain.” 

Decades-old SLO County hospice nonprofit suddenly collapsed. What happened? The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, CA; by Chloe Shrager; 7/27/25 A beloved San Luis Obispo-based home health and hospice care nonprofit suddenly closed its doors last month after nearly 80 years of service, leaving many in the community wondering what went wrong. For decades, Wilshire Health and Community Services offered clinical hospice care, home health and other vital community services to SLO County’s ill and aging. Just over a month before its permanent closure, Wilshire had a booth set up at the California Association For Health Services At Home Annual Conference and Expo in Rancho Mirage on May 19 to 22. The organization had started making plans for its annual fundraiser held at the Hearst Ranch Dairy Barn in August and was still accepting donations. Business appeared to be booming. Now, Wilshire’s offices are emptied out, its website has been taken down, its Hospice Hope Chest thrift store has shut down for good and the once-thriving organization is in the process of filing for bankruptcy. So, how did things turn south so quickly? ... 

Negotiations move forward as Essentia delays return of striking workers Minnesota Nurses Association, Duluth, MN; Press Release; 7/25/25 On Tuesday [7/22], clinic nurses, surgery center nurses, healthcare workers at Solvay Hospice House, and Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) concluded a powerful strike across Essentia Health facilities that involved nearly 700 frontline workers. The two-week strike by nurses and healthcare workers and 13-day strike by APPs brought statewide attention to Essentia’s unfair labor practices, including unlawful intimidation, surveillance, and clear attempts to bust the union. Yet, even after the strike’s end, Essentia is continuing to keep on travel nurses, when former striking healthcare workers are available and want to return to work. 

How Compliance Management Systems help ensure business efficiency Enterprise Talk; by Apoorva Kasam; 7/22/25 With changing rules and regulations, businesses can’t afford to leave compliance to chance. A robust compliance management system (CMS) helps meet regulatory, legal, and internal policy requirements.

Systems lean into nurse educator initiatives Becker's Clinical Leadership; by Mariah Taylor; 7/18/25 There is a key driver behind the nationwide shortage of nurses: a severe nurse faculty shortage. To solve both shortages, more systems and nursing programs are creating formal venues to enlarge the nurse educator pipeline. Like the nurse shortage, universities and nursing programs are facing a nurse faculty shortage that has reduced their capacity to accept and train students. Too few nurses are pursuing advanced degrees and becoming educators in the field, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. So systems are developing programs that boost interest and remove barriers for nurses who want to teach. These programs — many of which launched in the last year — range in commitment and scale. Here are a few examples: ...