Literature Review

Gov. Hochul reaches agreement with NY Legislature to pass Medical Aid in Dying Act NBC News 10, Rochester/Albany, NY; by Evan Bourtis; 12/17/25 Gov. Kathy Hochul has reached an agreement with the New York State Legislature to allow medical aid in dying for terminally ill people. ... Hochul announced the agreement and published an op-ed in the Times Union on Wednesday. In the op-ed, Hochul said she proposed changes to the bill’s language, which sponsors and legislative leaders have agreed to include. She said she’ll sign the bill once the legislature returns to Albany. You can read the op-ed here. ...  Hochul wanted more protections in the bill’s language. Here is the updated list of safeguards in the bill: ...

House passes legislation that extends acute hospital care at home program through 2030 Health IT Answers | Industry News; 12/15/25 ATA Action, the advocacy arm of the American Telemedicine Association, comments on the U.S. House passing the U.S. House of the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act (H.R. 4313) recently, which extends the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) program through 2030. This is an important step to avert another lapse of essential care for Medicare patients on January 30, 2026. ... “In a solid show of bipartisan support, the House passed legislation under suspension, to ensure that millions of Medicare beneficiaries will continue to have access ..."

GUIDE and beyond: Strategies for comprehensive dementia care integrationJournal of the American Geriatrics Society; by Kristin Lees Haggerty, David B Reuben, Rebecca Stoeckle, David Bass, Malaz Boustani, Carolyn Clevenger, Ian Kremer, David R Lee, Madelyn Johnson, Morgan J Minyo, Katherine L Possin, Quincy M Samus, Lynn Spragens, Lee A Jennings, Gary Epstein-Lubow; 10/25The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model represents a landmark opportunity to improve outcomes for persons with dementia and their caregivers and scale comprehensive dementia care through a structured service delivery and alternative payment approach.  Drawing from the experiences of six previously tested programs ... we describe a four-step approach to enable successful adoption and implementation: identifying key leaders and partners, preparing a tailored value proposition, initiating program start-up, and ensuring sustainable implementation. We highlight practical tools and resources to address operational challenges, including electronic health record integration, reimbursement strategies, and staff training. By focusing on evidence-based models, health systems and other providers can accelerate implementation, reduce costly emergency and institutional care, and deliver high-quality, person-centered support. This approach can help to empower GUIDE participants and others to build effective, durable, scalable comprehensive dementia care systems, ultimately advancing the goal of establishing such care as a permanent Medicare benefit.

New Jersey organ procurement organization under congressional investigation after ‘alarming’ whistleblower claimsCNN; by Jen Christensen; Story by Jen Christensen, 11/24/25 The US House Ways and Means Committee said Wednesday that it is investigating the organ procurement organization for the New Jersey region for what it called “extreme abuse of public trust” and possible illegal activity, including trying to procure organs from people who didn’t volunteer to be donors and, in at least one case, trying to continue with the organ recovery process in a patient who had “reanimated.”

[United Kingdom] Warning issued as palliative care in England is ‘failing to meet people’s needs’ Independent; by Ella Pickover; 11/27/59 Palliative care services in England are "failing to meet people’s needs", a new parliamentary report has warned. Commissioned by MPs on the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, the findings attribute these shortcomings primarily to "insufficient funds" for services providing end-of-life and life-limiting condition care. The report highlighted that bereavement support for loved ones, while "valuable", is "frequently inaccessible". It also noted that palliative care patients and their families are "too rarely given the opportunity to plan effectively for the future". Painting a picture of services under "significant strain", the document cautions that health and care provisions are "ill-equipped" to address end-of-life needs, citing "insufficient" education and training.Editor's Note: Our ongoing distribution of posts from the United Kingdom report financial cuts from the UK government, resulting in insufficient funds to provide adequate staffing, facilities, supplies, and more. Want to learn more? Subscribers can login to your account and use the "Search Articles" field to find other posts, based on keywords you enter.

States’ promising practices to improve care of serious illness National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP); by Stacie Sinclair (Center to Advance Palliative Care) and Wendy Fox-Grage; 11/17/25 Every state has taken meaningful action in some capacity to improve care for residents facing serious illness, affirms a recent publication from the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). The report documents how states are using a wide array of policy levers — such as legislation, Medicaid innovation, public education, and workforce development — to improve access to and quality of palliative care. 

Hospital-at-home programs gripped by uncertainty Modern Healthcare; by Diane Eastabrook; 11/17/25 ... Stopgap legislation signed into law last week continues the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver until the end of January. The short extension is creating more confusion and uncertainty for health systems hoping to start or scale hospital-at-home, said Dr. Stephen Dorner, chief of clinical operations and medical affairs at Mass General Brigham’s Healthcare at Home program. Guest Editor’s Note, by Judi Lund-Person: Health systems who had Hospital-at-Home programs are rethinking their plans to reopen their programs, largely due to the very short waiver extension until January 30,  2026. According to Modern Healthcare, a bill has been introduced, titled the “Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act.” The waiver for Hospital-at- Home would be extended for five years, through the end of 2030.

Federal government re-opens CHAP; Press Release; 11/13/25 On November 12, the U.S. House passed the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5371, ending the 43-day government shutdown. The continuing resolution (CR) provides funding for most agencies through January 30, 2026, at current levels, and grants full-year 2026 funding to select departments, including Agriculture, FDA, Legislative Branch, military construction, and Veterans Affairs. It also contains measures relevant to the home care community. 

National Alliance CEO Steve Landers on hospices’ top policy priorities Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 11/6/25Medicare advantage and telehealth are key hospice policy priorities for the National Alliance for Care at Home. On the home health front, the organization is also embroiled in efforts to stave off proposed payment and Medicaid cuts. The Alliance came into being last year with the merger between the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. Hospice News spoke with Alliance CEO Dr. Steven Landers about how the two legacy organizations are integrating, the hospice public policy landscape and how providers can get involved at a grass roots level.

Spain proposes major expansion of bereavement and palliative care leave Spanish News Today; 10/21/25 The Spanish Ministry of Labour has presented a draft Royal Decree that would significantly extend the amount of paid leave workers can take following the death of a close relative or when caring for a loved one receiving palliative care. Under the proposal, employees would see their bereavement leave increased from the current two days to ten working days in the event of the death of a spouse, common-law partner, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild. One of the most important changes is flexibility: these ten days would not need to be taken consecutively.Editor's Note: For ongoing bipartisan advocacy for bereavement leave legislation throughout the United States, visit Evermore.org/advocacy.

Trends in state palliative care legislation across the USJAMA Network; by Na Ouyang, Ling Han, Wendy Jiang, Stacie Sinclair, Eugene Rusyn, Shelli L. Feder; 10/24/25More than 13.7 million people in the US could benefit from palliative care. Yet, access is uneven due to workforce shortages, low public awareness, variability in service availability, and federal delays. Although states play a pivotal role in shaping health policy, the extent of their legislative efforts regarding palliative care is unknown. Using data from the Palliative Care Law and Policy GPS, a database developed by the Yale Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy in partnership with the Center to Advance Palliative Care, we examined trends in the introduction and enactment of state-level palliative legislation, categorized legislative content, and mapped distribution across states and regions from 2009 to 2023... States introduced 819 pieces of legislation during the study period, peaking in 2018. States most frequently introduced quality/standards, public awareness, and payment policies. States that introduced the most legislation included Massachusetts with 111 pieces, New York with 72, and New Jersey with 61.

WHO strengthens palliative care across the eastern Mediterranean to improve quality of life fundsforNGOs; Press Release; 10/29/25 The Seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean marked a historic step forward for health systems in the Region, as Member States endorsed resolution EM/RC72/R.4 on palliative care. The decision represents a transformative commitment to support individuals living with life-limiting illnesses, chronic conditions, and frailty, ensuring that care extends beyond treatment to dignity and compassion. ... [While] 2.4 million people in the Region need palliative care each year, less than 1% currently receive it. ... The resolution calls for countries to integrate palliative care into national health strategies, guarantee access to essential medicines such as oral opioids, and incorporate palliative care education into health professional training.

The government shutdown’s impact on Medicare Advantage: As clear as mud? JD Supra; by Jeffrey Davis and Lynn Nonnemaker; 10/16/25 Over the last couple of weeks, stakeholders have raised many questions about how the government shutdown will affect different healthcare initiatives and programs, and Medicare Advantage (MA) is no exception. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided guidance related to Medicare claims processing, telehealth services, and other operations, but most of that has pertained to Medicare fee-for-service (traditional Medicare). MA plans have been largely responsible for figuring out how the information applies to them. About half of Medicare beneficiaries are in MA, meaning more than 35 million Medicare beneficiaries and the providers who care for them rely on MA plans to communicate how benefits and coverage have, or have not, changed. As the shutdown drags on, CMS’s work to establish future MA policies and payment rates through rulemaking and notices also could be impeded. To discuss some of the ways that the shutdown has impacted MA and may continue to do so, I’m bringing in my colleague Lynn Nonnemaker. ...