Literature Review

The debate: vertical integration, payvider, or world-class care—which path forward? | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast by Chris Comeaux; 10/21/26 What if hospice succeeds at the wrong strategy?  Chris Comeaux explores three paths for the future of hospice and palliative care: vertical integration, the payvider model, and world-class specialty care. In Part One of The Debate: Vertical Integration, Payvider, or World-Class Care—Which Path Forward?, Chris Comeaux confronts a defining question for healthcare leaders: What should our organizations become to best serve patients and families? With competition intensifying, financial pressures mounting, and workforce demands growing, he introduces three possible paths: build an Vertical Integration continuum of care, participate in financing as a Payvider, or make World-Class Hospice and Palliative Care the central strategy.

Recruiters say health systems must define the mandate before searching for a chief AI officer Complete AI Training; 9/25/26 Only 6 of the top 100 health systems had a dedicated chief AI officer in 2024, though that number is now growing fast as organizations weigh hiring one or folding AI oversight into existing roles. Health systems are formalizing AI leadership as adoption accelerates, with many weighing whether to hire a dedicated chief AI officer or fold the responsibility into existing roles. ... Recruiters say the mandate must be clear before the search begins, because the pool of qualified candidates remains small and the role is still taking shape.

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.

2027 trends to watch: Distributed care will drive the next phase of healthcare delivery Definitive Healthcare; by Ethan Popowitz; 9/17/26 Healthcare delivery has never been confined to a single setting. But the number of places where patients can receive care, and the range of services available outside the hospital, have grown in recent years. Today, a single patient journey might include a primary care visit, diagnostic imaging at an outpatient center, a procedure at an ambulatory surgery center (ASC), a virtual follow-up, and remote monitoring from home. ... This more distributed model of healthcare delivery is being shaped by several forces at once, from advances in medical technology and economic pressures to workforce shortages and more. 

Hospices’ top legislative priorities Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/18/26As the midterm elections approach, hospices have unfinished business in the halls of Congress. Providers have identified several high priority pieces of legislation they would like to see passed before this Congress ends in December, according to healthcare leaders attending the National Alliance for Care at Home’s Advocacy Week on Capitol Hill. Most of these are oriented around the common theme of preserving access to home-based care. “Care at home already has bipartisan support and recognition as a cost-effective, patient-preferred solution,” said Jennifer Sheets, CEO of the Alliance, in a statement. “As demand continues to grow, we are committed to being a strong partner with Congress to help federal policy grow with it.”

Rural Solterra Hospice triples patient census Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 9/17/26 Oregon-based Solterra Hospice has seen its average daily census rate triple in the last year. The organization’s leaders attribute the expansion to balanced clinical capacity and strong community collaboration. Solterra Hospice began serving patients in November 2024 after receiving its Medicare and Medicaid certifications earlier that year. The family-owned organization’s average daily census currently hovers around 75–80 patients, tripling from 25 patients in fall 2025. Prioritizing small patient caseloads for clinicians allowed for meaningful, sustainable growth, according to Christie Rivelli and Dr. Chris Eilersen, co-founders and co-owners of Solterra Hospice. ... This clinical strategy opened up opportunities to better reach under-resourced, remote regions, Rivelli said.

The critical competencies hospice leaders must build for value-based care cuccess | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Dr. Jessica Hubbs; 9/16/26 Value-based care isn’t just changing how hospice gets paid—it’s redefining what hospice leaders must be capable of delivering. In Part One of The Critical Competencies Hospice Leaders Must Build for Value-Based Care Success, host Chris Comeaux sits down with Dr. Jessica Hubbs, Chief Clinical Officer at Advanced Care Innovations, to explore the accelerating shift from fee-for-service healthcare toward models built around outcomes, total cost of care, and coordinated care delivery.  Dr. Hubbs explains why emerging models such as LEAD (Long-term Enhanced ACO Design) matter to hospice and palliative care leaders—and why the movement upstream into serious illness and home-based care could represent both a competitive headwind and an extraordinary opportunity.

Ready, Fire, Aim: The CY 2027 Home Health Proposed Rule's shoot-first approach to provider enrollment Husch Blackwell | Hospice Insights; by Bryan Nowicki and Andrew Brenton; 8/26/26 CMS’s CY 2027 Home Health Proposed Rule tucks a sweeping set of Medicare provider enrollment changes inside what is nominally a routine payment rule, expanding the grounds on which CMS can deny or revoke a provider’s enrollment. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Bryan Nowicki and Andrew Brenton unpack several of the rule’s most consequential proposals, including new denial and revocation grounds and retroactive revocation effective dates. They also discuss why home health agencies and hospices should be paying close attention as the rule moves toward finalization.

What an AI-enabled finance function actually looks likHighspring; by Bryan Rhody; 8/24/26 Many finance leaders are asking how AI can create value. The better question is what distinguishes finance functions that successfully scale AI from those still experimenting. Key takeaways:

CMS hospice payment suspensions slamming vendors Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 8/21/26 ... CMS earlier this year began suspending Medicare payments to hundreds of hospices allegedly due to suspected fraud. ... Evidence indicates that some legitimate hospices were caught up in the dragnet due to patients being discharged for valid reasons, such as a revocation of the benefit, moving out of a provider’s service area or transfer to another hospice. ... These regulatory actions have had a ripple effect on vendors, according to a DME company CEO that spoke to Hospice News on background. “These hospice agencies are being suspended. They’re not getting paid,” the DME CEO told Hospice News. “If they’re not getting paid, their employees are not getting paid. DME providers like us are not getting paid. Pharmacies are not getting paid. Any other contractor they have is not getting paid.” This has placed some vendor businesses in peril, and some of them have been considering layoffs of their own, another DME provider ... told Hospice News, “We’ve been trying to keep everybody on board, keep them employed, keep them paid for as long as we possibly can.”

When a hospice patient comes to the hospitalICD10monitor; by Tiffany Ferguson, LMSW, CMAC, ACM; 8/17/26 A recent question was posed related to “What happens when a hospice enrolled patient returns to the hospital for emergency or hospital care?” Aside from the initial questions such as “did we even know this patient was on hospice when they roll through the emergency room, or why did they come back to the hospital? The next question may evolve to the following: is the treatment still involving care congruent with the patient’s hospice care plan or has the patient/representative elected to revoke their hospice services? Understanding these distinctions is increasingly important for case management, utilization review, registration, revenue cycle, and especially hospital clinical teams.