Literature Review

HHS decertifies Kentucky organ procurement organization Hazard Herald, Hazard, KY; by an Appalachian Newspapers Staff Report; 8/15/26 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a statement Aug. 5 that it has decertified Network For Hope, the federally designated organ procurement organization serving Kentucky and parts of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. According to the statement, the move comes after multiple federal reviews found "persistent safety failures despite extensive oversight and despite Network for Hope having been provided repeated opportunities to correct them." The failures, according to the statement, put prospective organ donors and patients awaiting lifesaving transplants at risk.

Reports from Duke University describe recent advances in managed care (the South had the lowest rates of hospice and palliative medicine-certified providers in the Us, 2024): managed care Insurance Newsnet; by Staff; 8/13/26 A new study on Managed Care is now available. According to news reporting originating in Durham, North Carolina, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To improve access to care for serious illness, policy makers need evidence on how workforce capacity aligns with the need for palliative care. This study evaluated the palliative care workforce and policy environments at the state level, using a new data source: the 2024 Center to Advance Palliative Care’s comprehensive Serious Illness Scorecard.” Funders for this research include US Department of Veterans Affairs, Duke University, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discover and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) at the Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Read the study here.

[Portugal] Ketamine for cancer-related pain in palliative care: A systematic review of clinical use and safetyJournal of Pain & Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy; by Catarina Vitorino-Afonso, Paulo Reis-Pina; 7/26Ketamine has emerged as an adjuvant for opioid-refractory cancer-related pain in palliative care, but evidence remains limited. [This study found that] ketamine was used mainly as an adjuvant. Many reports described reduced pain and/or lower opioid use, although certainty was very low and attribution was limited by polypharmacy and regimen changes. Intravenous infusions were most common, but subcutaneous, oral, and intranasal routes were also used. Intranasal ketamine showed pragmatic utility for breakthrough pain, while oral ketamine was described in ambulatory palliative care settings.

[Canada] Daughter says elderly father chose MAiD due to 'loss of hope' after not qualifying for hospice LiveAction.org; by Bridge Sielicki; 8/11/26 Colleen De Vos told EWTN News Nightly that her 85-year-old father died in 2023 after being diagnosed with terminal chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Though he had initially agreed to hospice or in-home palliative care, he was denied the care he needed. “He was turned down on two occasions, deeming that his diagnosis wasn't enough to warrant hospice care,” De Vos said. “That was a surprise to us because we could see he was deteriorating very quickly.” Nevertheless, he was able to qualify for MAiD. “The irony of the availability of MAiD that could be arranged very quickly... sidelined us very much,” she said. ...

Palliative care consults for the oldest-old: A retrospective study of referral patterns, patient characteristics, and clinical outcomes Geriatric Nursing; by John Cameron, Kalli Stilos, Anita Chakraborty; 8/11/26Objective: This study describes the characteristics and outcomes of patients aged 90 and older (the oldest-old) receiving inpatient palliative care consultation at a tertiary care hospital, to identify gaps and opportunities to improve care. ... Conclusion: Referrals for specialist palliative care in the oldest-old occur late in hospitalization, predominantly among those with non-cancer illnesses and poor functional status. Systemic changes, including the use of prognostication tools and enhanced collaboration between geriatric and palliative care services, are needed. Nurses are pivotal in advocating for earlier advance care planning (ACP) and identifying patients who would benefit from timely palliative integration to ensure goal-concordant care.

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, Oct. 10, 2026, with theme "Pain management - an essential part of palliative careWorldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA); Press Release; 8/7/26World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. WHPCD has been marked every year since 2005. Join us on Saturday 10 October 2026 to advocate for better hospice and palliative care services around the world.

Hospice leaders: palliative care through home health a limited prospect Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 8/6/26 Structuring palliative care payment through the home health benefit is the wrong approach, according to some hospice leaders. The U.S Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in its proposed 2027 home health rule included language specifying that Medicare would cover community-based palliative care through the Medicare home health benefit. ... CMS indicated in a statement, “Therefore, in this proposed rule, CMS states that skilled palliative care services can be furnished and billed under existing Medicare home health benefits for eligible patients with serious illnesses.” ... But the home health chassis is not built to support the full range of interdisciplinary palliative care, some hospice leaders contend. The benefit also imposes certain limitations. For example, patients would need to be homebound. ...

Mandatory mortality surprise question screening in the ED: Identification and associations with end-of-life care outcomesJournal of Palliative Medicine; by Nancy Kim, Karen Jubanyik, Peiyuan Liu, Giselle O'Connor, Ling Han, Rohit B Sangal, R Lynn Fiellin, Jennifer Kapo, Elizabeth Prsic, Shelli Feder; 7/26Early identification of patients with serious illness remains challenging in the emergency department (ED), where clinical decisions are made under time constraints. The mortality surprise question (MSQ) is a brief prognostic screen that may help identify patients needing end-of-life services. Results: Among 113,397 admissions (74,816 patients), MSQ completion was 100%; 7.8% received a "No" response. A "No" response was strongly associated with increased palliative care consultation ... , ACP documentation ... , hospice referral ... , comfort-measures-only orders ... , hospice disposition ... , higher inpatient mortality ... , and increased 30-day readmission ... Palliative care consultation occurred earlier among MSQ "No" than MSQ "Yes" encounters.

Safeguarding palliative and serious illness care in America The Lancet Regional Health - Americas; by William E. Rosa, Gina Piscitello, Diane E. Meier, Arif H. Kamal, Jean S. Kutner, Abby R. Rosenberg, Allison Silvers, Stacie Sinclair, Robert M. Arnold; August 2026If a society's greatness is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable, we live in discouraging times for the more than 13 million adults and 700,000 children with serious illnesses in the United States of America (U.S.). ... In this personal view, we describe three threats to specialty palliative care in the U.S., namely healthcare financing changes, increased privatization of services, and low prioritization of palliative care research in myriad contexts, including pharmaceutical and clinical trial research and development. We subsequently provide guidance for multi-sector actors to address these threats and mitigate harms while optimizing palliative care for U.S. populations.

Hospice's bad reputation amid fraud crisis will hurt patients, industry experts warn U.S. News & World Report; by Laurie Udesky and KFF Health News; 7/30/26... “The fraud situation has done a lot of damage to the reputation of hospices overall and undone a lot of the progress that had been made in destigmatizing hospice,” said Lauren Hunt, an associate professor at the University of California-San Francisco’s Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies who focuses on hospice care. “Policymakers should pursue targeted strategies that root out fraud and abuse without overburdening the many providers who are doing the right thing.” ... Hunt said she’s heard from California healthcare providers who are reluctant to refer patients to hospice because they’re unsure the patients will receive high-quality care and from patients who don’t know which hospice providers they can trust. 

Quality domains in home-based pediatric hospice and palliative care: Adolescent and young adult perspectivesBMC Palliative Care; by Daniel H Grossoehme, Claire A Crawford, Jhansi Chandra Ellakula, Toluwalase Ajayi, Justin N Baker, Sarah Friebert, Lisa Humphrey, JillAnn Jarrell, Rachel Thienprayoon, Pamela S Hinds; 7/26Previous research with pediatric providers and caregivers concluded that pediatric hospice and palliative care have unique attributes. Not known is how adolescent hospice and palliative care patients understand quality palliative care. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 10-26 year-olds who received home-based hospice and/or palliative care visits in the prior three years at six diverse sites in the United States. The results address an important gap by including adolescent/young adult patients' voices regarding delivery of home-based hospice and palliative care. Clinical implications include prioritizing and making time to build trusting relationships directly with the AYA, empowering them to participate in their care to the extent appropriate and prepare for transition to adult care when needed, providing support for family members, and training for all providers in generalist spiritual care.