Literature Review

Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service closing its doors but other options are available to those in need Los Alamos Daily Post, Los Alamos, NM; by Kirsten Laskey; 2/12/26 The closure of Los Alamos Visiting Nurse Service (LAVNS) on Feb. 20 after more than 50 years of service marks the end of a significant chapter in Los Alamos. However, it is not the end of the story; there are still options available to those who utilized LAVNS’ services. LAVNS Clinical Manager Susan Edwards noted that there are several home health care and hospice options available.Home Health Agencies: La Vida Bella Home Health & Hospice. Presbyterian Home Health. Hospice: Ambercare. Red Willow. Roadrunner Hospice. Del Corazon Hospice.

CommonSpirit Health at Home’s ‘aggressive’ hospice growth strategy for 2026 and beyond Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 2/10/26 Continuing its de novo- and joint venture-based blueprint for growth, home health and hospice provider CommonSpirit Health at Home is also setting plans in motion to engage patients further upstream for earlier hospice enrollment, when appropriate. CommonSpirit Health at Home is the home-based care arm of the nonprofit health system CommonSpirit Health, which operates more than 2,200 care sites across 24 states. Hospice News caught up with CommonSpirit Health at Home CEO Trisha Crissman at the Home Care 100 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona to discuss CommonSpirit Health at Home’s strategic plans for 2026, as well as the top trends and market forces shaping the hospice community.

Community Hospice & Palliative Care unveils Advanced Cardiac Care Program Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 2/9/26 Florida-based Community Hospice & Palliative Care has launched an Advanced Cardiac Care Program to serve patients and families wrestling with heart disease. The hospice, an affiliate of Alivia Care, designed the program in collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA) and the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation. It will provide a suite of services specifically designed for patients with cardiac conditions.

California AG Bonta charges 7 in Monterey County over hospice fraud scheme totaling $3.2m KSBW 9 Action News, Monterery, CA; by Ricardo Tovar; 2/6/26 California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that arrests have been made and felony charges filed against seven people in connection with an alleged hospice fraud scheme filed in Monterey County. The total loss to Medi-Cal and Medicare is estimated to be $3,211,419.79, according to Bonta's office. The complaint alleges that the conduct occurred from approximately April 1, 2016, through June 1, 2024 — a period of roughly 8 years and 2 months.

Measures that matter: How better metrics can transform end-of-life care | part twoTeleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner, with guests Bob Tavares, Robin Heffernan, and Mindy Stewart-Coffee; 2/6/26 Top News Stories of the Month, January 2026What gets measured shapes how patients experience the final chapter of life.  In Part Two of Measures That Matter, Hospice and healthcare leaders explore how focused, meaningful metrics—not check-the-box measures—can improve quality, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, and strengthen value-based end-of-life care. The conversation highlights a small, high-impact set of indicators that better reflect real-world Hospice performance—such as visits in the last days of life, live discharges and burdensome transitions, gaps in nursing visits, access to higher levels of care (GIP and Continuous Home Care), and patient experience, including the simple but powerful question: “Would you recommend this Hospice?”

Exploring Artificial Intelligence in hospice and palliative care: An integrative review of technological and clinical Journal of Palliative Medicine; by Tuzhen Xu, PhD, APRN, FNP-C, Caiyi Liu, PhD, BSN, RN, Lin Li, PhD, Dan Song, PhD, RN, Gloria M. Rose, PhD, NP-C, FNP-BC, and Sen Zhu, PhD; 2/4/26 Conclusions: AI holds potential in enhancing timely, patient-centered palliative and hospice care, supporting prognostication, symptom management, and decision-making. Successful integration requires attention to clinician trust, workflow alignment, equity, and ethical considerations. To maximize its impact on underutilization, future research should focus on multicenter validation, representative datasets, ethical deployment, and seamless integration into clinical practice.

Measures that matter: How better metrics can transform end-of-life care | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Bob Tavares, Robin Heffernan and Mindy Stewart-Coffee; 2/4/26 In Episode One of Measures That Matter: How Better Metrics Can Transform End-of-Life Care ... explores why fewer, clearer quality measures are essential for reducing variability, improving patient outcomes, and supporting value-based care at the end of life. ... Bob Tavares explains how decades of healthcare analytics revealed a fundamental problem in Hospice quality measurement: an abundance of metrics that fail to differentiate performance.  Many current measures cluster nearly all providers at the top, making it difficult for patients, payers, and value-based organizations to identify true centers of excellence or address variability that puts patients at risk.

The Parmenter Foundation expands compassionate care, bereavement community with 2026 grants Transcendental Meditation News Today, Wayland, MA; Press Release; 2/3/26 ... The Parmenter Foundation, based in Wayland, Mass., will provide $400,000 to nearly two dozen innovative and compassionate programs in four areas of support: children’s bereavement, caregiver support, family bereavement, and hospice care. “We are honored to provide funding to such deserving organizations in 2026,” said Executive Director Angela Crocker. ... Among this year’s grantees is long-term partner Good Shepherd Community Care’s Miriam Boyd Parlin Hospice Residence, ... and Empower Grieving Children, ... [Click here for the full list.]

Hospice of the Western Reserve rebrands as Reserve Care Reserve Care, Cleveland, OH; Press Release; 2/2/26 Hospice of the Western Reserve is now operating under a new name, Reserve Care, reflecting the organization’s full scope of services and its role supporting individuals and families across Ohio through caregiving, serious illness and end of life. Founded nearly 50 years ago as a leading nonprofit hospice provider in Northeast Ohio, the organization has served nearly 640,000 patients and family members throughout its history. Over time, it has expanded to offer personalized services across the continuum of care ...

Protecting patients at the end of life why CON still matters - part 2 Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Paul A. Ledford and Tim Rogers;  1/30/26 In Part Two of Protecting Patients at the End of Life: Why CON Still Matters, host Chris Comeaux continues the conversation with two of the nation’s most respected hospice policy leaders—Paul A. Ledford, President & CEO of the Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Association, and Tim Rogers, President & CEO of the Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina. This episode moves beyond regulatory theory and into the real-world patient and family experience—especially in states without hospice Certificate of Need (CON) laws. Drawing on decades of leadership, personal stories of loved ones in hospice, and data-informed insights, Paul and Tim explore what families actually face when hospice markets are oversaturated, fragmented, or poorly regulated.

Protecting patients at the end of life: Why CON still matters / part one, with Tim Rogers and Paul A. Ledford Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast/video hosted by Chris Comeaux with Time Rogers and Paul A. Ledford; 1/28/26 Certificate of Need (CON) laws remain one of the most debated—and misunderstood—regulatory frameworks in healthcare.  In this in-depth conversation, Chris Comeaux is joined by two of the nation’s most respected Hospice association leaders: Paul A. Ledford, President & CEO of the Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Association, and Tim Rogers, President & CEO of the Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina.

Half a million without power and dozens of deaths. A winter storm’s toll, in numbers Associated Press; by Jeff Martin; updated 1/27/26, 1:50pm EST As a deadly storm that brought crippling ice to the South and deep snow to the Northeast finally swirled out to sea, it represented a light at the end of the tunnel for some. However, roughly half a million Americans were still without power or heat, and temperatures were forecast to fall well below freezing Tuesday evening in areas where the massive ice storm did its worst damage. ... Here’s a look at the storm by the numbers. ...

Fighting hospice fraud an OIG priority Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 1/26/26 The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has identified hospice fraud among top management and performance challenges. This is according to an annual document that OIG prepares, a statutory requirement that is designed to help HHS improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations. A major challenge for HHS is the “sizable” reduction in workforce and a slew of program changes instituted by the Trump Administration, the report indicated. “Effectively managing a changing organizational and workforce environment is itself a significant management challenge,” OIG said in the report.