Literature Review

Community rallies to bring 12-year-old cancer patient homeNBC 26, Green Bay, WI; by Ezekiel Telemaco; 1/18/25 Hadley Baker returns home to a community welcoming her with open arms. 

Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare to merge with National Alliance for Care at Home Home Health Care News; by Audrie Martin; 1/17/25 The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH) will shut down effective March 1. The PQHH board of directors will join efforts with the National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) to create a stronger and unified voice for the industry. By collaborating with the Alliance, the PQHH board aims to enhance advocacy on public policy and regulatory issues impacting the home health community. Their goal is to promote a health care system that acknowledges home health’s vital role in providing compassionate, value-driven care. ... Since its founding in 2010, PQHH has represented community — and hospital-based home health care agencies, working in partnership with government officials to ensure access to high-quality home health care. This mission was at the forefront of their decision to close.

CMS Health Equity Data Book U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - Office of Minority Health; by CMS Office of Minority Health; published December 2024, email notifications 1/15/25 One of the six pillars of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2023 Strategic Plan is to, “Advance health equity by addressing the health disparities that underlie our health system.” The CMS Office of Minority Health (OMH) aims to advance health equity by providing broader access to data about the state of health equity across CMS’ programs. This Data Book presents summary information on disparities within CMS programs as demonstrated by data related to prevalence. ... This Data Book is intended for use as a readily-available information source on health disparities within the Medicare, Medicaid, and the Health Insurance Marketplace populations. This Data Book is organized into five key sections – CMS at a Glance, Demographics, Chronic Conditions, Behavioral Health, and Social Determinants of Health – so that Data Book users can jump to the section most relevant to their data needs. Within each section, data are presented by each population type.

Introduction: ‘Those who have made death their life’The Daily Yonder - Keep It Rural; by Hannah Clark; 1/15/25 Hannah Clark spent six months riding along with the nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) of Hearth Hospice who provide in-home care to those living in Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee. These hospice workers often drive up to a hundred miles a day to visit a handful of patients scattered across the Appalachian landscape in both rural towns and urban centers. What will follow this introductory essay is her photo reportage in three parts, documenting what she has witnessed accompanying these caregivers. The intimate portraits and vignettes show tender moments at different stages towards the end of one’s life. Their beauty lies in the companionship Clark captured in moments of need and vulnerability. 

16 top data governance tools to know about in 2025 informa - TechTarget; by Craig Stedman and David Weldon; 1/9/25 ... Data governance is the process of creating internal data standards, along with policies that control who can access data and how data is used in business operations and analytics applications. It often incorporates data quality improvement initiatives, as well as master data management (MDM) ones. ... Here's a look at 16 prominent data governance tools, listed in alphabetical order, with summaries of their key features and capabilities. The list was compiled by Informa TechTarget editors based on research of the data governance software market that included the use of market reports and vendor rankings from Forrester Research and Gartner.

Hospice CEO’s top predictions for 2025 Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 1/10/25Hospice News spoke with a group of industry leaders about the most pressing market forces and trends that will shape the space during 2025. Their comments carried some common threads, including rising demand for care in the home, continued labor pressures, industry consolidation and intensifying regulatory scrutiny. They also spoke about the need for greater integration of hospice into the larger health care continuum and the benefits of operators broadening their scope of services. During these conversations, four key themes rose to the forefront for the coming year.

Iowa Finance Authority okays more than $500,000 for North Iowa homeless assistance [$66k to Cedar Valley Hospice] KIMT3 News, Des Moines, IO; by Mike Bunge; 1/9/24 Over $500,000 in grants from the Iowa Finance Authority is going to homeless assistance programs that cover North Iowa. $18,189 will go to Community Kitchen of North Iowa, Inc. in Cerro Gordo County.  Cedar Valley Hospice covering Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Chickasaw, Fayette, Floyd, Grundy, Howard, Mitchell, and Winneshiek counties will receive $66,565.  $474,108 will go to Primary Health Care covering [28 counties] ...

Kirva Hospice CEO: Quality begins with staff education, engagement Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 1/7/25 Long-time hospice CEO Cheryl Hamilton Fried has taken the helm at Kirva Hospice, a new, standalone nonprofit established by the public service organizations Jewish Family Services and Beth Shalom. Kirva serves the Richmond, Virginia, region with plans to expand into contiguous markets. ... About 16% of their patients are of the Jewish faith.Q: What are your top priorities as you take the helm at Kirva? Developing culture, that’s always been big for me. I’ve done that everywhere I’ve gone. A: Developing people, so I’ve already tapped a couple of managers to elevate to directors, as we are growing our census pretty rapidly and really identifying areas that are unmet in the community. That’s what Kirva and Jewish Family Services want to do, is look at where the gaps are in senior care.

Hawaiʻi Palliative and Hospice Care Collaborative forms to strengthen advanced illness care across state MauiNow - Maui News; 1/7/25 Six grassroots nonprofit hospice providers—Hawai‘i Care Choices, Hospice Maui, Kaua‘i Hospice, Navian Hawaii, North Hawai‘i Hospice, and St. Francis Hospice—have united to form the Hawai‘i Palliative and Hospice Care Collaborative, a statewide initiative leveraging decades of expertise to provide compassionate palliative and hospice care across Hawai‘i. “This Collaborative represents a new era for end-of-life care in Hawai‘i,” said Brenda S. Ho, CEO of Hawai‘i Care Choices. “By coming together, we are amplifying our voice, strengthening our resources, and ensuring that every community across our islands has access to care that honors the culture and preferences of each patient and their ‘ohana.”  

Seven trends in senior living that will define 2025 and beyond McKnights Senior Living; by Michele Hollerand, PhD, MBA; 1/6/25 Senior living is in the midst of a major transformation, and seven major trends have emerged as key drivers of the strategic plans adopted by boards across the country. Those trends will shape the way organizations position themselves for the future to capture a new customer base in 2025 and beyond.

What’s the most impactful thing you learned this year? Harvard Business Review (HBR); by Kelsey Hansen; 12/31/24 What’s one thing you learned this year that changed the way you lead? We asked HBR’s global social media community this question to get a sense of the lessons our readers are taking into the new year. We’ve collected some highlights here so that we can all reflect and learn from one another. Our readers shared lessons learned around the importance of (truly) listening; leading with vulnerability and humility; and why we should all prioritize reflection and lifelong education. In the spirit of continuous learning, we’ve also included some resources to dig deeper in HBR articles and podcasts. ...

In Memoriam: Jimmy Carter helped build the hospice community Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 12/30/24 ... During his tenure as president, Carter was essential to the establishment of the Medicare Hospice Benefit. His administration launched the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ demonstration project to test the model, leading to passage of a law establishing the benefit during the subsequent Reagan presidency. Prior to these efforts, hospice care was delivered predominantly by volunteers who relied on philanthropy to operate. The scale of these early providers was very limited due to lack of payment, as was access to their services. “For decades, the Carter family has championed open dialogue about the needs of patients at the end of life,” Dr. Vicki Jackson, board president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), told Hospice News in an email. “Their vocal support for hospice care over the past year has made an immeasurable impact and brought information about this essential subspeciality of medical care to a national audience.”

Hospice News’ top 10 stories of 2024 Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 12/13/24 Fraud and program integrity concerns dominated the news in 2024, along with large acquisitions, payment rules and regulatory changes. This year saw regulatory evolutions spurred by program integrity concerns, as well as the introduction of landmark legislation, shifts in reimbursement trends and a change in presidential administration with unknown impacts across the care continuum. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ramped up auditing activity in the space while also sunsetting the hospice component of its value-based insurance design (VBID) model demonstration ahead of its initial expiration. Meanwhile, lawmakers unveiled a bill with some of the most significant reforms proposed to date for hospice payment and oversight. Dubbed as the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act, the bill has ignited conversations across the industry about future sustainability, growth and program integrity. [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]