Literature Review

CMS proposes community-based palliative care benefit Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 7/1/26 The U.S Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed coverage of community-based palliative care through the Medicare home health benefit. CMS included the palliative benefit in its 2027 proposed home health rule. ... The agency emphasized that palliative care under the home health benefit would be separate from hospice care and could support patients earlier in the course of serious illness.

My parents moved in with us before my dad got sick. It made all the difference when he passed. Business Insider; by Justin Murphy; 6/27/26

Pediatric home-based hospice and palliative care: A scoping reviewBMC Palliative Care; by Ellen Davis, Daniel H Grossoehme, Toluwalase Ajayi, Justin N Baker, Pamela S Hinds, Lisa Humphrey, Jill Ann Jarrell, Rachel Thienprayoon, Sarah Friebert; 5/26Pediatric palliative and/or hospice care is provided across a broad spectrum of settings, ranging from inpatient to outpatient to a child's home. Pediatric home-based hospice and/or palliative care teams offer a specialized, interdisciplinary approach to care, allowing children to stay in the home while offering comprehensive support. Common themes emerged [in this review] including studies analyzing models of care, characterizing the population, end-of-life decision making, clinical outcomes of home-based hospice and/or palliative care, costs and economic impact, family experiences, quality domains, specific treatment modalities, and the use of telehealth. Overall, the available literature supported home-based hospice and/or palliative care as an effective model of care, reducing the burden on families, improving quality of life, and allowing families to stay in their preferred setting for care without sacrificing clinical outcomes.

Referral and utilization patterns for home-based palliative care services among older adults BMC Palliative Care; by Joohyun Chung, Aaron Langlois, TylaAnn Burger, David L Chin; 6/11/26 Background: Home-based palliative care (HPC) improves quality of life for individuals with serious illness but remains underutilized in the United States, with persistent disparities in access. HPC is also frequently misconceived as appropriate only at the end of life. ... Results: ... Patients who received HPC were more likely to be older, female, insured through Medicare Part B, and referred from larger hospitals. Conclusion: These findings underscore ongoing structural disparities in access to home-based palliative care and highlight the need for targeted strategies to improve equitable access to HPC services.

Cracks in the AI crystal ball: why clinical prediction tools fall short in the real world Journal of General Internal Medicine; by David Gamble MD, Andrew Wong MD, MS and Amiran Baduashvili, MD; 6/22/26 ... In this issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Patel and colleagues evaluate the real-world performance of five Epic predictive AI tools: the Deterioration Index, Sepsis Model, Unplanned Readmission Model, End-of-Life Care Index, and Patient No-Show Model. Their systematic review and meta-analysis, encompassing 22 studies and over two million patients, focused on the models’ ability to distinguish between patients who ultimately did and did not experience a specific outcome—a property known as discrimination.

Dying patients shouldn’t have to choose between dia­lysis care and com­fort The Boston Globe, Boston, MA; by Patricia Ramsden; 6/22/26 ... Medi­care cur­rently requires most end-stage kid­ney fail­ure patients to choose between dia­lysis and hos­pice bene­fits. ... People dying from other ter­minal ill­nesses do not face this harsh choice. For sev­eral years, Dia­lysis Clinic, Inc. (DCI), the only national not-for-profit dia­lysis organ­iz­a­tion, has col­lab­or­ated with not-for-profit hos­pice organ­iz­a­tions to offer con­cur­rent pal­li­at­ive dia­lysis and hos­pice care to selec­ted patients in Ten­nessee and West­ern Pennsylvania. A 2026 col­lab­or­a­tion between DCI and Care Dimen­sions, the largest hos­pice pro­vider in the state, expan­ded that model to East­ern Mas­sachu­setts. However, this innov­at­ive pro­gram, rely­ing on phil­an­thropic fund­ing, remains avail­able only to a few patients.

Indian Health Service receives gift membership to expand training for serious illness care U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | Indian Health Service | The Federal Health Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives; Press Release; 6/16/26 The Indian Health Service (IHS) has received a two-year membership to the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) through a grant-funded initiative, expanding access to training and resources that support care for patients with serious illness. Through this gifted membership, targeted IHS workforce development participants, including Models of Care initiatives and clinical training programs, will gain access to CAPC’s comprehensive library of web-based courses, tools, webinars, and expert support. 

Connecting through emotions: a social constructivist grounded theory on how palliative care clinicians use their emotions during consultations Journal of General Internal Medicine; by Katrien Moens MSc, Johan Bilsen PhD and Sofia C. Zambrano PhD; 6/15/26 Background: Palliative care clinicians are regularly exposed to emotionally laden situations. While emotions are an intrinsic part of their encounters with patients and relatives, the role of clinicians’ own emotions has remained understudied. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that palliative care clinicians use their strong emotions during consultations to build connection. When met with awareness and reflection, these emotions can serve as a valuable resource for delivering patient- and relationship-centered palliative care. Future research should explore clinicians’ training needs and attitudes towards emotional skills training more broadly.

The clinical relevance of sleep disturbance ("insomnia") in patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care: A scoping reviewSupportive Care in Cancer; by Shauna Munir, Eva Jones, Faith Precious Omeokwe, Andrew Neil Davies; 5/26Sleep disturbance ("insomnia") is common in patients with advanced cancer receiving specialist palliative care. The studies highlight that sleep disturbance is associated with a range of physical symptoms (e.g. fatigue, drowsiness), a variety of psychological problems (e.g. anxiety, depression), impaired quality of life, and reduced overall survival. Sleep disturbance is an "orphan" symptom, and the results of this scoping review suggest that it deserves much greater attention. Indeed, healthcare professionals should screen all palliative care patients for the problem and, when identified, perform a thorough assessment and initiate an appropriate treatment.

Chapters Health System awarded $150,000 grant from the Golisano Foundation to expand inclusive pediatric hospice care in Southwest Florida PR Newswire, Temple Terrace, FL; by Chapters Health System; 6/9/26 Chapters Health System, the nation's leading chronic illness innovator and largest nonprofit hospice provider, has received a $150,000 grant from the B. Thomas Golisano Foundation through the Chapters Health Foundation ... The grant will support the launch of "Advancing Inclusive Pediatric Hospice Care," an initiative designed to expand access to developmentally appropriate, family-centered end-of-life care, particularly for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the integration of a Certified Child Life Specialist and Hospital-Hospice Liaison at Hope Healthcare, a Chapters Health affiliate in Fort Myers.

Creation of a novel simulation based palliative care curriculum for the emergency medicine resident BMC Medical Education; by Hillary C. Moss, Bruce R. Gutierrez, Mustfa K. Manzur, Amir L. Rashed, John J. Thomas, Noah P. Trump, Danielle K. Turrin, Valerie C. Lehman, Michael Cassara & Carlo L. Lutz; 5/25/26 Conclusions: A year-long simulation-based palliative care curriculum significantly improved EM residents’ practice patterns in regard to palliative care, with a positive trend in knowledge retention. Feasibility of implementation was demonstrated. Findings suggest that simulation-based training effectively teaches key palliative care skills. This curriculum may serve as a model for integrating palliative care education into other EM residency programs and may improve resident preparedness in caring for critically ill patients near the end of life.