Literature Review

What a CMS fraud chief learned by caring for her parents in hospice Forbes; by Wes Kilgore; 6/11/26  The realization came to Dara Corrigan in late August, when she and her younger sister had to place both of their parents into hospice care within days of each other. Corrigan was not a typical stressed relative, navigating end-of-life care. She'd worked for decades in senior federal service, serving as the Acting Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and directing the Center for Program Integrity at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Her career was built on protecting Medicare from fraud. Yet, sitting by the bedside as a daughter, the benefit looked entirely different from how it appeared on a regulatory spreadsheet. ...A New Model for Dignity: Corrigan thinks a completely different approach could be the solution: a new, dedicated federal palliative care benefit tailored to the reality of long, slow neurodegenerative declines. She envisions a system built from day one with modern anti-fraud controls. 

When the storm hits: how hospice providers help protect Florida’s most vulnerable patients South Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report; by Kathleen Coronado; 6/1/26 In South Florida, hurricane preparedness is a part of life. Hospitals activate emergency operations centers, nursing homes review evacuation plans, and families rush to gather supplies before a storm makes landfall. For hospice providers, preparedness carries an additional layer of responsibility. Patients receiving end-of-life care are among the most medically vulnerable members of our communities. Many rely on oxygen, medications, specialized equipment or around-the-clock support that cannot simply pause when severe weather arrives. At VITAS Healthcare, hurricane preparedness is not a seasonal checklist. It is a year-round operational priority designed to ensure continuity of compassionate care before, during and after a disaster.

Providing inclusive and affirmative palliative care for the LGBTQ+ community: why inclusive care for LGBTQ+ patients is essential CAPC - Center to Advance Palliative Care; by Kimberly D. Acquaviva, PhD, MSW, CSE, FNAP, Anup Bharani, MD, Brynn Bowman, MPA, Brittany Chambers, MPH, CHES, Diane Farquhar, LCSW, ACSW (1957 – 2023), Noelle Marie Javier, MD, Rabbi Max Zev Reynolds, BCC, MA, Billy Rosa, PhD, MBE, APRN, Rayna Ross, CHES; retrieved from the internet 6/9/26 Despite the historical efforts to advance civil rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning (LGTBQ+) community – there continues to be ongoing discrimination in society, including in health care. Providing inclusive care for seriously ill LGBTQ+ patients is essential for ensuring equitable, respectful, and comprehensive health care. ... The Bottom Line: For patients that have experienced discrimination from the health system, trust-building is a key priority and the foundation on which health care is delivered.

Dr. Joan Teno exposes the hidden problems with hospice ratings and quality scores | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Dr. Joan Teno; 6/3/26 What if the hospice ratings patients and families rely on don’t tell the full story?   In Part One of this thought-provoking conversation, renowned hospice researcher and policy expert Dr. Joan Teno joins Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner to unpack the hidden flaws within today’s hospice quality measurement systems. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience shaping hospice and palliative care policy, Dr. Teno explains why many publicly reported quality measures may fail to capture the true experiences of patients and families.  She discusses the challenges of transparency, the unintended consequences of current reporting systems, concerns about fraud and oversight, and how artificial intelligence could help transform the future of hospice quality measurement. 

Dr. Joan Teno exposes the hidden problems with hospice ratings and quality scores | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Dr. Joan Teno; 6/3/26 What if the hospice ratings patients and families rely on don’t tell the full story?   In Part One of this thought-provoking conversation, renowned hospice researcher and policy expert Dr. Joan Teno joins Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner to unpack the hidden flaws within today’s hospice quality measurement systems. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience shaping hospice and palliative care policy, Dr. Teno explains why many publicly reported quality measures may fail to capture the true experiences of patients and families.  She discusses the challenges of transparency, the unintended consequences of current reporting systems, concerns about fraud and oversight, and how artificial intelligence could help transform the future of hospice quality measurement. 

The secret to great leadership from a Chick-fil-A executive — part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); pocast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Mark Miller; 5/27/26 What does it take to build a leadership culture that scales across generations, industries, and millions of customer interactions? In this powerful conversation, Chris Comeaux sits down with Mark Miller — former Vice President of High Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A and bestselling co-author of The Secret and Lead Every Day— to explore the principles behind extraordinary leadership. ... Throughout the episode, Mark unpacks the foundational leadership framework behind the acronym SERVE: See the Future, Engage and Develop Others, Reinvent Continuously, Value Results and Relationships, and Embody the Values.  He explains why leadership is ultimately about service — not position ...

The secret to great leadership from a Chick-fil-A executive — part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); pocast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Mark Miller; 5/27/26 What does it take to build a leadership culture that scales across generations, industries, and millions of customer interactions? In this powerful conversation, Chris Comeaux sits down with Mark Miller — former Vice President of High Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A and bestselling co-author of The Secret and Lead Every Day— to explore the principles behind extraordinary leadership. ... Throughout the episode, Mark unpacks the foundational leadership framework behind the acronym SERVE: See the Future, Engage and Develop Others, Reinvent Continuously, Value Results and Relationships, and Embody the Values.  He explains why leadership is ultimately about service — not position ...

Unlocking human potential through the workplace FacilitiesNet.com; by AnnMarie Martin; 5/22/26 ... Today’s facility leaders are no longer simply maintaining buildings. They are actively shaping the conditions for organizational success, serving as the critical connector between people, place, strategy and technology. That shift carries both weight and possibility. ... The question driving forward-thinking facility leaders today isn’t whether the workplace matters. It’s how to make it matter more. ... At the heart of this life-centered, people-first approach is a simple but powerful premise: the built environment shapes behavior. Lighting affects focus. Acoustics affect stress. Layout affects collaboration. ...

Hospitality exec brings hotel playbook to senior living, hits 97% occupancy Pacific Business News, Hawaii; by Cathy Cruz-George; 5/14/26 Mark Tsuda had three decades of hospitality experience when he joined the opening team of Ilima at Leihano, a luxury senior living community in Kapolei, in 2016. He previously was a regional executive for Aston Hotels & Resorts, ... Ilima at Leihano - which provides independent living, assisted living and memory care - has held an occupancy rate of between 95% and 97% over the past six years, supported by 92 employees who balance hotel-style services with healthcare needs and recreation. ... If a resident is in hospice, they can stay with us. Hospice is outsourced to local providers like Malama Ola and Island Hospice, ...

How to transform a health system’s organizational culture and hardwire it for the futureNEJM Catalyst; by Brian Carlson, Nancy M. Lorenzi, Paul Sternberg, Jr., Cassandra Hennessy, Dandan Liu; 4/26Organizational culture is a critical driver of workforce and patient experience, yet health care institutions often struggle to sustain their desired culture over time. In 2017, Vanderbilt Health identified inconsistencies in expected workforce behaviors through patient feedback, prompting the creation of a strategic cultural renewal initiative. The resulting program, Defining Personalized Care, had a 4-year road map of seven e-learning modules designed to reinforce core values and improve interpersonal behaviors across the workforce. This single-center pre–post study revealed statistically significant improvements in patient experience scores, particularly in the communication and courtesy domains. The initiative demonstrated that engaging, relevant content combined with visible support from leadership can drive voluntary participation and generate measurable outcomes. This case study offers a replicable framework for health care organizations seeking to hardwire their cultural expectations and align workforce behaviors with patient-centered care goals.

AI: as much peril as promise? KFF; podcast/transcript hosted by Chip Kahn III with guest Robert Wachter, MD; 5/19/26 Episode 4, AI Series: What does AI mean for patients in bed and doctors at the bedside? Host Chip Kahn and guest Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, discuss whether AI will produce a different kind of doctor in the future — a “clinician curator rather than a clinician-diagnostician.” The answer could define the future of medicine and the doctor-patient relationship.

The future of hospice: how HOPE will transform reimbursement & care | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Andrea Hale and Raianne Melton; 5/20/26 In this Part One episode of The Future of Hospice: How HOPE Will Transform Reimbursement & Care, healthcare leaders and hospice professionals, Andrea Hale, CEO of Valley Hospice and Raianne Melton, Director of Clinical Services of Professional Services for Axxess, explore how CMS hospice changes will impact hospice operations, compliance, documentation, and outcomes-based reimbursement models. We take a deep dive into one of the most significant changes facing hospice providers in decades—the implementation of the Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool.