Literature Review

Harvard physician Lachlan Forrow honored with Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Medical Ethics and Palliative Care Life Sciences Times, Boston, MA; by Life Sciences Times; 11/9/26 Lachlan Forrow, MD, a longtime Harvard Medical School Physician and Medical Ethicist who helped shape palliative care and clinical ethics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has been selected to receive the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. The award recognizes Forrow’s more than four decades of contributions to bioethics, compassionate patient care, medical education and community health leadership. ... Forrow spent much of his medical career at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), where he founded and directed the hospital’s ethics and palliative care programs.

The CIO job description is being rewritten in real-time CIO; 11/9/26 ... Because AI makes it possible to rapidly redesign workflows from the ground up, enterprise IT leaders who built their reputations on delivering systems reliably and on schedule are being asked to decide whether the work should exist at all, and who — or what — should do it. How much each CIO adjusts to a rapidly advancing technology space varies widely, but the CIO’s remit is broadening well beyond the technology organization and into how the business itself builds, operates, and grows.

Leading the health care workforce through change: leadership, policy, and innovation in action America's Essential Hospitals; by Amaodo Oguagha; 11/4/26 Human resources (HR) and employee relations leaders from seven essential hospitals gathered in Washington, D.C., for “Leading the Health Care Workforce Through Change: Leadership, Policy, and Innovation in Action.” Hosted by America’s Essential Hospitals and Essential Hospitals Institute with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the convening focused on strategies for strengthening employee engagement and retention, growing relationships with employees and community partners, and expanding recruitment for high-turnover positions. 

Hospice nurse executive: Leaders’ ‘tough balance’ on improving health equity, sustainability Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 11/3/26 Today’s hospice leaders are balancing several competing demands in the battle of sustainability, according to Altonia Garrett, a registered nurse. ... Hospice News recently sat down with Garrett to discuss the most significant challenges at both clinical and business leadership levels. ... Improving diversity and inclusion in hospice leadership requires more than acknowledging the problem or making a commitment to representation. We must start by looking at how people get into leadership in the first place. It is not enough to say we want more diversity. We must examine how we recruit, develop, mentor, sponsor and promote people, and whether everyone has a fair opportunity to advance. That means investing in people who may not have access to traditional professional networks and giving emerging leaders meaningful opportunities to demonstrate what they can do.

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.

At Meridian Senior Living,  Kacy Kang is reshaping care through family engagement, data, and experience-driven operations American Healthcare Leader; 10/27/26 The senior living industry is experiencing significant change. Today’s residents arrive with new expectations compared to earlier generations. Families now play a bigger part in choosing communities. ... Few leaders have witnessed this evolution as closely as Kacy Kang. As Co-founder, Principal, and Board Member of Meridian Senior Living, Kacy has spent more than 36 years in senior housing, skilled nursing, hospice, and post-acute care. Today, he guides one of the nation’s leading senior living operators, with communities from Vermont to Florida and as far west as California. For Kacy, one of the industry’s biggest blind spots is how operators view the people they serve. ...

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.

LTC ACO Partner Summit brings long-term care leaders together to turn insight into action bluegrasslive; by GlobeNewswire; 10/26/26 LTC ACO brought participating practices, clinical leaders, external experts and industry partners together in Louisville, Kentucky, October 5-6 for its 2026 LTC ACO Partner Summit, a two-day event focused on translating shared insight into practical strategies for success in long-term care value-based care. Across the Summit, participants explored the clinical, operational and performance priorities shaping long-term care value-based care and preparation for the performance year ahead.  

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.

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.

SOS Y 1A34- How do utilization and process measures vary by hospice star rating, and do they differ by profit status?Substack; by Joan Teno; 10/19/26Hospice star ratings come from surveys of hospice primary caregiver after a loved one dies. In our analysis, hospices with more stars were more likely to have a nurse or social worker visit in the last days of life, and that pattern held for both for-profit and nonprofit hospices. But star ratings told us little about how often a hospice discharges patients before death or how much Medicare spends on each patient; on those measures, whether a hospice is for-profit or nonprofit mattered more. When choosing a hospice, look at the star rating, but also ask how often staff visit in the final days and whether the hospice is for-profit or nonprofit

Home-based medical care users more likely to enroll in hospice, study findsMcKnights Long-Term Care News; by Suzy Frisch; 10/16/26Home-based medical care (HBMC) — longitudinal medical care provided in a patient’s home, led by physicians or advanced practice providers — has demonstrated its value reducing hospital admissions, emergency department visits and hospital length of stays. Now, according to a new study, it plays a role in hospice uptake and reducing extremes in hospice stays. A new study in Health Affairs Scholar, “Closing the Hospice Gap: The Value of Home-Based Medical Care,” found that HBMC users had greater odds of enrolling in hospice compared to nonusers. HBMC patients enrolled in hospice also experienced fewer ultra-short hospice stays of less than three days and prolonged stays of more than 180 days. These findings could open doors for HBMC to play a wider role in connecting people with hospice services.

Palm Beach caretaker accused of stealing more than $10K from elderly womanWPBF; by Vanessa Laurent; 10/14/26A longtime live-in caretaker is facing felony charges after police said she stole thousands of dollars from an elderly Palm Beach woman with dementia, including through checks allegedly made out to herself.Publisher's note: While not specifically about hospice, this is an important reminder about caring for vulnerable patients.