Literature Review

CMS to update Hospice CoPs Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 9/25/26 The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun the process of revising the hospice Conditions of Participation (CoPs) for the first time in 20 years. ... CMS will hold three listening sessions with stakeholders to discuss and gather feedback on the CoPs and what they may change. The first is scheduled for Oct. 6 for hospice administrators and management, and the second will take place on Oct. 7 for direct care workers. The third happens on Oct. 14 for patient caregivers and families.

CMS expands the ACCESS Model: new tracks for heart failure, COPD, substance use disorders, tobacco cessation, and extended MSK support Foley Hoag; 9/21/26 Key Takeaways:

Sen. Baldwin demands investigation into veteran care failures at Tomah VAWXOW-19 ABC, Tomah, WI; by Terry Bell; 9/21/26 U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is calling for an immediate investigation into serious allegations about the failure to care for veterans and unacceptable conditions at the Tomah VA Medical Center. Baldwin is asking Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to conduct a full review of staffing levels, provider coverage, medication delays, hospice care and patient safety at the Tomah VA Hospital. She's also requesting the VA Office of the Inspector General conduct an independent investigation. Baldwin's office heard from several Tomah VA employees who outlined severe lapses in patient care at the hospital. The allegations include inadequate staffing contributing to falls, injuries, food choking incidents and other adverse patient outcomes. [View recent incident:  Former VA nurse charged with intentionally abusing hospice patient]

The role of hospice and palliative care in addressing climate changeAmerican Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine; by Erik S. Carlson, Nisha Shah, Jill Denny,  Aldebra Schroll, Daniel Mahoney, Sarah Schear, Kate Jennings, Collins Uzuegbu, David Harris, Bhargavi Chekuri, Cecilia Sorensen, Janet Bull, Chris Jones; 8/26Climate change is a defining global health challenge of our time, acting as a threat multiplier that erodes decades of health gains and worsens social inequities. People living with serious illness, the population served by Hospice and Palliative Care (HaPC) professionals, are particularly vulnerable to these impacts. While leading health organizations have acknowledged the public health implications of climate change, HaPC has remained largely absent from this discourse. This narrative review and framework proposal situates the field’s competencies within the growing climate and health literature and identifies avenues through which HaPC can contribute to addressing climate change. We argue that HaPC professionals — drawing on strengths in serious illness communication, interdisciplinary collaboration, and person-centered care — are uniquely positioned to advance equitable climate adaptation and mitigation at the individual, organizational, and societal levels.

Capstone University offering Clinical Pastoral Education for hospice and palliative care chaplaincy NEWSnet; Press Release; 9/18/26 Capstone University [in University Place, WA] now offers clinical pastoral education (CPE) with a specific focus on hospice and palliative care chaplaincy. This transformative program centers on spiritual caregiving in response to aging, serious illness, dying, and bereavement. It enables chaplains to deepen their ability to provide culturally responsive, patient-led spiritual care to individuals and families throughout the end-of-life experience. 

Labor Day auction raises more than $1 million Hospice & Community Care, Lancaster, PA; online letter to their sponsors, volunteers, and community; retrieved from the internet 9/22/26 Thanks to your incredible generosity, we are proud to share that more than $1 million was raised to support hospice and palliative care, bereavement services, and grief support programs for the thousands of patients and families served by Hospice & Community Care each year. This remarkable achievement reflects the compassion and commitment of our community. Because of you, we can continue our mission of helping patients and families live better with serious illness through end of life. From all of us at Hospice & Community Care, thank you for making a difference.

Ennoble Care expands national reach by entering five new communities NewsNet, Arlington, VA; by PR Newswire; 9/17/26 Ennoble Care, a leading home-based primary, palliative, and hospice care provider, today announced its expansion into five new communities in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, and Texas to deliver more care for medically frail and homebound patients. ... At the heart of it, Ennoble Care’s model allows seniors to age at home. Instead of medically frail patients spending their final years cycling in and out of hospitals, they can remain in the comfort of their homes and receive high-touch primary, palliative, and hospice care ... That continuity of care is only possible because of Ennoble Care’s proprietary electronic health records system, ...

Homecare Homebase announces 2026 Customer Award Winners and Home Care Aide Scholarship recipients PR Newswire, Dallas, TX; by Homecare Homebase; 9/22/26 Homecare HomebaseSM (HCHB) today announced the winners of its 2026 Customer Awards and the recipients of its Home Care Aide Scholarships. The annual programs recognize organizations and individuals demonstrating excellence across clinical quality, operational performance, industry leadership, innovation, and professional development. This year's honorees reflect the breadth of work underway across home-based care to strengthen patient outcomes, improve performance, and support the professionals who deliver care in homes and communities nationwide.

9/11 Remembrances TodayHospice and Palliative Care Today; compiled by Joy Berger; 9/10/26 In hospice and palliative care, we understand grief's long reach — the "normal" losses we companion daily, and the tragic ones that live on in us for a lifetime. Today marks 25 years since that morning. 

Hospice Home & Garden Tour raises $40K+ for Granite VNA The Laconia Daily Sun, Laconia, NH; Press Release; 9/15/26 Nearly 500 attendees explored four exceptional properties in East Alton and Wolfeboro during Granite VNA’s annual Hospice Home & Garden Tour on July 15. The tour raised more than $40,000 to support the agency’s hospice services. Guests enjoyed an afternoon experiencing rich history through architecture and thoughtfully designed and renovated interiors and taking in stunning views of Lake Winnipesaukee from three of the properties. 

Inspiring a culture of ownership through mutual accountability-A health care system's approach to connecting bedside expertise with boardroom strategyNursing Management; by Torry Robinson, Stuart Downs; 8/26A health care system's approach to integrating the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Healthy Work Environment (HWE) standards across organizational levels demonstrates a replicable pathway for aligning bedside expertise with boardroom strategy, an essential linkage in organizational strategic planning. This article describes one health care system's 3-year journey in embedding the HWE framework throughout the deployment of the nursing strategy. Following operationalization of HWE as a component of the nursing strategic framework, the health care system achieved sustained improvement across all domains of the Healthy Work Environment Assessment Tool (HWEAT), bolstering an organizational commitment to continuously improve and measure practice-environment health. This transparent, high-visibility approach emphasizes accountability from the Chief Nurse Executive to frontline nurses, underpinning a shared commitment that aligns clinical practice with organizational strategy. Organizations that embed HWE into their nursing strategic plan empower nurses at every level to shape and share ownership of the practice environment.

U.S. hospices with a 5-star CMS family caregiver survey ratingHospice & Palliative Care Today; 9/6/26... This list was compiled directly from CMS's official downloadable dataset — "Hospice care – Provider CAHPS Hospice Survey Data" (August 2026 release) — available on the CMS Provider Data Catalog. Every hospice below has a "SUMMARY_STAR_RATING" (Family Caregiver Survey Rating) of 5 out of 5 in that file. You can look up any individual hospice, or search by ZIP code, on Care Compare.