Literature Review

Early palliative integration for heart failure Medscape; by Karel De Pourcq, PhD; 5/27/26 ... Chronic conditions such as heart failure often bring relentless symptoms, repeated hospital admissions, and deep emotional and social effects for patients and their families. Bringing a palliative perspective into care widens the focus beyond disease-directed treatments to include ongoing symptom relief, emotional support, and help for overburdened caregivers. It also promotes early, shared planning about treatment intensity — deciding when worsening episodes can be managed at home vs when hospitalization is needed — and clarifying care goals as the illness progresses.

[United Kingdom] Palliative care beds paused over lack of staffing BBC News, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom; by Laura Coffey; 5/28/26 Palliative care beds have been temporarily taken out of use for end-of-life patients due to an "unexpected shortfall in consultant cover", an NHS trust said. Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) said the six affected beds at Danetre Hospital in Daventry would instead be used for rehabilitation. ... In a statement, NHFT said: "A recruitment process is ongoing, and once the medical cover has been resolved, the beds will switch back to being palliative care beds. 

Proposed community-based palliative care model aims to expand access to care Hospice News; by Kevin Ryan; 5/22/26 The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) has teamed up with the Coalition to Transform Advance Care (C-TAC) to work on building a federal fee-for-service, community-based palliative care model that would provide broader access and earlier support for patients across the United States. Research has shown benefits for patients and families when they are able to receive palliative care early on, after the diagnosis of a serious illness. But many patients in the United States do not receive palliative care until they have reached a crisis point, Tom Koutsoumpas founder and CEO of NPHI told Palliative Care News. 

Geographic distance between perinatal and pediatric palliative care services and implications for practice standards American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Radion Svynarenko, PhD, Meaghann S. Weaver, MD, PhD, MPH, HEC-C, Ambria Williams, BA,Ashley Kiefer Autrey, MD, DonnaMaria E. Cortezzo, MD, Abigail B. Wilpers, PhD, Abagail D. Cohen, MA, HEC-C,  Lisa C. Lindley, PhD, RN, FPCN, FAAN; 5/14/26 Background: Practice standards recommend early integration of perinatal and pediatric palliative care (PC) with seamless transitions across settings. Little is known about the proximity between these services nationally. Results: 418 pediatric PC physicians and 296 perinatal PC programs were included. Five states (CA, TX, NY, FL, OH) had the highest concentrations of pediatric PC physicians. ... Median drive times to the nearest pediatric PC physician for programs lacking on-site expertise reached approximately 5 hours in NM and SD; 3 hours in ND and MT; and 2 hours in AL, CO, WV, and TN.

Hospice and students 'break taboos' in podcast BBC News, Staffordshire, United Kingdom; by Aida Fofana; 5/26/26 A university and hospice charity have collaborated to launch a podcast, aiming to break the taboo around death and dying by discussing grief and hospice care. Birmingham City University (BCU) students and St Giles Hospice in Staffordshire created the Dying to Tell You Something podcast, featuring guests including volunteers, fundraisers and the hospice's director of clinical services, Leon Ratcliffe.

What misconceptions do people have about hospice care What's Next? - Buffalo*Toronto Public Media | PBS; by Kelley Clem; 5/20/26Many people associate hospice care with the final days of life, but healthcare advocates say there are still major misconceptions surrounding both hospice and palliative care. On this episode of What’s Next?, Kelley Clem of Hospice Buffalo and Palliative Care Buffalo explains the differences between the two forms of care and why early intervention can improve quality of life for patients living with chronic illness. She also discusses how palliative care helps manage symptoms at any stage of illness, while hospice focuses on comfort and support during the final months of life, including emotional and spiritual care for families.

CMS clarifies telehealth policy during enrollment moratorium Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 5/21/26 Hospices will continue to be able to use telehealth for face-to-face recertifications during the hospice and home health enrollment moratorium, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS). ... The federal statute stipulates that telehealth recertifications are not permitted in regions that are under an enrollment moratorium. This has raised some questions about how hospices can use telehealth for the next six months. “Perhaps the most troubling unintended consequence of a nationwide moratorium is its apparent impact on telehealth …” a trio of state associations said in a joint statement. “In rural communities and congested urban areas alike, this imposes severe and unnecessary burdens on the most vulnerable patients at the most vulnerable moments of their lives.”

Mayo Clinic and Bayesian Health co-develop new AI-powered solution to expand palliative care access and improve patient outcomes PR Newswire, Rochester, MN and New York , NY; by Bayesian Health; 5/19/26Mayo Clinic and Bayesian Health today announced they have co-developed an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to identify hospitalized patients who may benefit from palliative care earlier in their stay. The solution is designed to support timely consultations, with the objective of improving goal-concordant care for patients with serious illness and reducing non-beneficial readmissions.

Palliative care intervention for patients with end-stage liver disease-A cluster randomized clinical trialJAMA Internal Medicine; by Manisha Verma, Victor Navarro, Andrzej Kosinski, Tamar Taddei, Richard Kalman, A. Sidney Barritt, Simona Jakab, Marina Serper, Eric Orman, Maya Balakrishnan, Mina Rakoski, Don Rockey, Kristel Hunt, Roniel Cabrera, Ayse Aytaman, Binu John, Gyorgy Baffy, Rohit Nathan, Elliot Tapper, Marina Roytman, Brendan McGuire, Nicholas Hoppmann, Christopher Woodrell, Marie Bakitas, Yang Yue, Bryce Reeve, Li Lin, Rebecca Tantala, Michael Volk; 4/26Palliative care improves quality of life (QoL) in advanced illnesses, but data in end-stage liver disease (ESLD) are limited. It is unknown whether palliative care delivered by hepatologists is effective when compared with palliative care specialists. This cluster trial found that palliative care delivered by trained hepatologists was comparable with palliative care delivered by palliative care specialists in improving QoL in patients with ESLD and was associated with greater improvement in patient satisfaction, demonstrating the effectiveness among enrolled patients.Assistant Editor's note: That's the beauty of palliative care. It can be layered upon many other specialties and sub-specialties and utilized by a variety of health care disciplines. The science of palliative care, the skill and knowledge base involved, is adaptable and valuable for almost anyone working in direct patient care in many different health care settings.

Background on CMS’s anti-fraud efforts in hospice careAEI - The American Enterprise Institute; by James C. Capretta; 5/21/26 ... For broader context, Congress added hospice coverage to Medicare in the 1980s to provide lower-cost and more patient-centered settings for terminally ill beneficiaries. ... Like home health, the hospice benefit is vulnerable to abuse because the barriers to entering the market are lower than in more regulated settings. The capital investment to get started is minimal in comparison with building a new hospital, outpatient clinic, or nursing home. Further, the potential profit margins are high if a service provider is confident that the per diem is above what is needed to provide the required services.Although CMS’s focus on fraud in hospice care is warranted, stronger oversight by itself may not produce large program savings. In theory, more use of hospice care could lead to lower overall costs if the sponsoring agencies are competent and can help their patients avoid costly hospital or nursing home admissions. CMS’s investigations need to be subtle enough to weed out the bad actors without making it overly difficult for vulnerable patients to get the care they need in their own homes or in other low-cost community settings.

[New Zealand] Hospices turning away dying patients as funding shortfall bites Europe Says | New Zealand; 5/16/26 Hospices across New Zealand are being forced to turn away dying patients as they struggle to cope with rising costs and insufficient government funding. There are 32 hospices nationwide providing palliative care, but the sector says it needs an additional $80 million to $100 million a year from the Government to remain financially sustainable. 

Ohio nurses help hospice patients navigate end-of-life decisions Public News Service; by Nadia Ramlagan; 5/15/26 On the heels of National Nurses Week, hospice nurses are raising awareness about access to compassionate end-of-life care and medical decisions in the Black community. ... Ottamissiah "Missy" Moore, a longtime hospice nurse and member of the African American Leadership Council for Compassion & Choices, said her personal experience relying on hospice care showed her how important it can be for families. ... A recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found around 34% of Black study participants died while using hospice services compared to more than 46% of their white counterparts. Moore added the disparity echoes other racial inequities in health care, such as nonwhite people being less likely to receive pain medications and higher rates of maternal mortality.