Literature Review

Northern Counties Health delivers care, access over 50 years Caledoninan Record, Vermont; 3/27/26 Northern Counties Health Care, Inc. is marking a golden milestone this year, celebrating five decades of providing primary care, dental care, and home health and hospice services across Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. The nonprofit traces its roots to a citizen-led effort to improve access to care and now operates a regional network designed around local needs. The organization’s origins date to 1976, when community leaders formed a board to continue the work of the Northern Counties Comprehensive Health Planning Council and established what became Vermont’s first federally qualified health center. ... The network today includes seven community health centers, two walk‑in primary care locations under the Northern Express Care banner, three dental centers, and a certified home health and hospice division.

New L+M hospice unit seeks to provide peace, comfort for patients and families The Day, New London, CT; by John Penney; 3/27/26 Down a long sixth-floor corridor that passes through Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s oncology unit are three rooms that for its patients are the last they’ll ever enter. Those recently refurbished patient rooms, along with a renovated family room, comprise the hospital’s new dedicated hospice space where those at the end of their lives — along with their loved ones — are made comfortable by a team of nurses and other caregivers. ... The creation of the new unit began in the fall and included transforming an office into a family room located just steps from the patient spaces.

Documented California hospice fraud prompts broad ranging inquiry from national oversight and accountability organization Empower Oversight - Whistleblowers & Research, Washington, DC; 3/26/26 Empower Oversight today pressed for comprehensive records from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) related to hospice fraud and oversight failures across California — with a particular focus on Los Angeles County. The records request targets widespread regulatory failures in the county. The letter request spans five broad categories asking for:

‘No one is safe’ in CMS’ fraud fight Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 3/25/26 The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is casting a wide net in its anti-fraud efforts, and some legitimate providers are finding themselves on the hook. ... CMS has pledged to crack down hard on fraudulent hospices, but to date some of their efforts lack transparency and could represent a threat to honest providers, according to Andrew Brenton, attorney with Husch Blackwell. “With the wide net that CMS is casting, certainly, good hospices are being caught up in that,” Brenton said at the Hospice News ELEVATE conference. “I think no one is really safe, because a lot of this is a black box; the methodology by which CMS chooses which hospices to audit or otherwise target for enforcement is kind of unknown.”

Medicare plan switching and hospice care among decedents with advanced cancer JAMA Network Open; by Xin Hu, Changchuan Jiang, Youngmin Kwon, Fangli Geng, Qinjin Fan, Kewei Sylvia Shi, Zhiyuan Zheng, Jingxuan Zhao, Joan L Warren, K Robin Yabroff, Xuesong Han; 3/2/16Importance: Hospice ... is an excluded benefit under Medicare Advantage (MA), with coverage instead provided by traditional Medicare (TM). With growing MA penetration, more beneficiaries also switch between MA and TM for financial protection and physician access considerations, although less is known about how different Medicare programs and plan switching behaviors affect EOL care for patients with advanced cancers.Conclusions and relevance: In this cohort study of Medicare decedents with advanced cancers, continuous MA enrollees were most likely to receive hospice at home, while those who switched from MA to TM more frequently received hospice care in nursing homes. Plan switching near the EOL may reflect access barriers, highlighting the importance of addressing care coordination to improve EOL care.

Ohio’s Hospice fundraiser in Malvern raises more than $42,000 Your Ohio News; by Kyle Valentini; 3/22/26 The Carroll County community came together March 21 to raise funds for nonprofit hospice care during Ohio’s Hospice Spring Spectacular Treasures of Time at Good Shepherd Hall in Malvern. According to Ohio’s Hospice, more than 175 attendees took part in the event, supporting celebrity servers while helping raise $42,175. 

Official statement from NPHI on recent hospice fraud media coverage and ongoing federal enforcement efforts National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI); Press Release; 3/20/26 ... NPHI is actively engaged with federal leaders to advance targeted solutions that root out bad actors while safeguarding the integrity of the hospice benefit. It is important to underscore that these issues are not representative of the majority of hospice providers, who are focused every day on delivering high-quality, compassionate care to patients and families. Official Statement by Tom Koutsoumpas, Founder & CEO of NPHI: "... It’s important to be clear — this is not a failure of the hospice model of care. It is the result of a subset of providers exploiting the healthcare system, and that must stop. ..."Carole Fisher, President of NPHI, added: "“At its core, hospice care is about trust — trust from patients and families during some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives. That’s why NPHI is committed to supporting decisive action to address bad actors, while continuing to uphold and protect the high standards that define this field.”

First renovated rooms completed in Columbus Hospice Center Refresh Capital Campaign, over $635K raised The Republic; by Hallie Gallinat; 3/21/26 The Hospice Center in Columbus, as part of the ongoing Hospice Refresh Campaign, has completed its first renovated patient room and family room. The campaign, launched to modernize the Hospice Center after more than 20 years of service to the community, has now raised over $635,000 toward its $2 million goal. ...  Donors were invited to a private open house on March 12 to celebrate the completion of the first renovated spaces.

AMGA calls for total-cost-of-care model for end-of-life care Healthcare Innovation; by David Raths; 3/20/26 Among the recommendations of a value-based care task force of the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) is that CMS should establish a total-cost-of-care model for end-of-life care. AMGA  is a trade association representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in its member organizations. Editor's Note: Download the AMGA's 44-page Task Force Recommendations. It details these six foundational pillars they identified:

Ahead of National Volunteer Month, NPHI calls on Americans to become hospice volunteers and strengthen human connection National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), Washington, DC; Press Release; 3/19/26 As more Americans look for ways to build connection and find purpose in their communities, the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation is encouraging individuals to consider volunteering with their local hospice during National Volunteer Month this April. Across the country, nearly 30,000 volunteers already serve alongside professional care teams within NPHI's network of more than 125 nonprofit providers, bringing comfort, presence, and human connection to patients and families facing serious illness while also experiencing the personal benefits of giving back.

Addus HomeCare details 2026 priorities as Medicaid redeterminations ease at KeyBanc Forum Transcript Daily; by Lauren Steadman; 3/17/26 ... 2025 focus areas: hospice improvements and personal care growth mix CEO Dirk Allison said a major internal focus early in 2025 was rebuilding performance in the company’s hospice segment. He said Addus made investments beginning in October of the prior year, including leadership changes as well as sales and marketing training, with the goal of returning the hospice business to pre-pandemic performance. Allison said the company saw “really good progress” during 2025 and is encouraged heading into 2026.

Most newly enrolled California hospice agencies flagged for fraud, CMS says Washington Examiner; by Mia Cathell; 3/18/26 A top official at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services informed Congress on Tuesday that federal investigators have stripped billing privileges from three-fifths of newly enrolled hospice agencies that have continued to pop up in California, a state long riddled with healthcare fraud. Of the remaining California-based hospice service providers that emerged over the past six months, 35% were flagged for corrective action, Kimberly Brandt, the chief operating officer of CMS, told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.