Literature Review

ClearPath Healthcare launches in-home primary care service across Central Oregon Cascade Business News (CBN); by CBN; 4/2/26 ClearPath Healthcare, a nonprofit and hospice leader in Central Oregon for more than 40 years, has launched its new In-Home Primary Care service. This program was launched to help Central Oregonians who find it difficult to physically get in to see their primary care doctor. ClearPath Healthcare’s aim is to bring quality, unhurried care right to patients’ doors. This launch is an important step for ClearPath Healthcare, which changed its name from Hospice of Redmond in December 2025. The new name reflects the organization’s expanded services, including a wider range of care, from primary care to end-of-life support.

‘No silver bullet’: The iterative staffing strategies home-based care providers need Home Health Care News; by Morgan Gonzales; 3/26/26 The home-based care staffing landscape is undergoing a shift, as worker demographics, desires and motivations evolve. ... [There] there is no single technique that serves as a panacea, and providers must continually iterate their strategies, according to Kerin Zuger, the chief operating officer at Caretech. “There is no silver bullet,” Zuger said on a recent Home Health Care News webinar. “What do we need to do with our recruiting and onboarding strategy so that we can hire more caregivers and get them to stay? The answer is, everything. The answer is, try it all and then try it again. 

Medicare Advantage ‘working’ for seniors, but not for taxpayers, experts say: Penn LDI panel cites costs for enrollees alongside billions in overpayments and systemic gaming Penn LDI - Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics; by Hoag Levins; 3/23/26 In response to the question “Is Medicare Advantage Working?” posed in a University of Pennsylvania panel discussion, two top experts concurred that the program is “working” in one narrow but powerful sense: It delivers more appealing coverage to many seniors, especially those with modest incomes. But it is not “working” in the sense originally promised by policymakers, because it is not saving public money and has encouraged a range of payment distortions, coding games, marketing excesses, and utilization-management conflicts.

VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region Vermont celebrates 80 years Bennington Banner, Bennington, VT; by Mark Rondeau; 3/22/26 [Historic photo shows workers with the Rutland Area Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice, a predecessor to VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region, in the 1970s.] VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region, founded in 1946, is celebrating 80 years of service to the community and compassionate care. “Our agency is celebrating 80 years of providing home health services in the community this year,” VNAHSR said in a statement. “We started as just a small group of community members that gathered to create an organization that would provide skilled nursing in the home with a mission to promote health and independence.Editor's Note: Timeline shows this VNA's beginnings as a "Certified Home Health Agency" to merging with Rutland Area Hospice in 1996, and more.

The US health spending problem is still about pricesHealth Affairs; by Irene Papanicolas, Jonathan Cylus, Luca Lorenzoni; 2/18/26For more than two decades, debates about why US health care spending is so high have been shaped by the insight articulated by Gerard Anderson, Uwe Reinhardt and Peter Hussey: that the United States does not use more health care than other high-income countries but pays much higher prices for it. The original “It’s the Prices, Stupid” argument was fundamentally about price levels, not price growth. That central insight remains as true today as when it was first articulated: across services, drugs, and inputs, the United States consistently pays substantially higher prices than its peers for comparable services, drugs, and inputs.

Staying in Grand: Experts highlight unique challenges facing older adults in mountain towns Sky-Hi News; by Kyle McCabe and Izzy Wagner; 2/27/26 ... As people age in rural resort communities like those in Grand and Summit counties, they often face situations that require them to leave for short or extended periods of time —  sometimes even permanently. A lack of comprehensive medical services, high costs of living, the effects of high altitude on the body, the inherent risks of an active mountain lifestyle and more add complications for people hoping to age in place in mountain towns. However, individuals determined to remain in their communities have figured out ways to overcome those challenges by learning about, preparing for and engaging with the topic of aging. ... Smiley [person interviewed] pointed to hospice and palliative care, or care for people living with serious illnesses, as gaps in service in the area. “It is not an uncommon gap in a small community or in a mountain community,” Smiley said, “but having hospice and palliative care would really allow people to have, kind of, a higher quality of life during those last, final years.”

3 strategies to improve care access: McKinsey Becker's Hospital Review; by Kristin Kuchno; 3/3/26 With the U.S. physician shortage projected to surpass 137,000 by 2037, improving patient access cannot rely on pushing physicians to see more patients, according to a Feb. 26 McKinsey article. In McKinsey’s 2025 Physician Survey, 83% of physicians said they have seen patients delay care, with access barriers ranking among the top reasons. ... McKinsey outlines three additional strategies that when implemented together and in sequence — alongside efforts to reduce waste — can improve patient satisfaction and retention.

Why Silverado’s new CEO thinks memory care must ‘be bold’ to serve new customers Senior Housing News; by Austin Montgomery; 2/24/26 Memory care providers today must take bold approaches to develop the next generation of new leadership and serve the incoming baby boomer generation. That’s according to Silverado CEO Designate Wayne Sanner. Last year, Sanner joined the California-based memory care provider with plans to take over for longtime CEO Loren Shook, who will transition to a role as the operator’s executive chairman of the board later this year.

New CAPC Report identifies caregiver support as key to better outcomes and lower health care costs Globe Newswire, New York, NY; by Center to Advance Palliative Care Press Release (CAPC); 2/20/26As caregiving demands continue to grow nationwide, a new report from the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) identifies formal caregiver support programs as a key driver of better outcomes and lower health care costs. The report links hospital-based caregiver support programs to improved outcomes for patients and caregivers, while being financially self-sustaining themselves.

South Bay family mistakenly told 92-year-old relative had died at healthcare facilityFox-2 KTVU, Los Gatos, CA; by KTVU Staff; 2/18/26 

This American Heart Month, Carolina Caring elevates cardiac care for serious illness Carolina Caring, Newton, NC; Press Release; 2/9/26 February is American Heart Month, a national effort to raise awareness about heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. As of 2025, 6.7 million Americans over the age of 20 are living with heart failure (Heart Failure Society of America, 2025). ... In response, Carolina Caring’s Advanced Cardiac Care program provides effective, tailored support to patients with chronic heart conditions. As the first cardiac care program of its kind in North Carolina, Carolina Caring combines nationally recognized standards of care with a home-based hospice approach. 

About 1 in 15 older Emergency Department patients are prescribed high-risk medications Medscape; edited by Gargi Mukherjee; 2/13/26 Analysis of over 16 million emergency department (ED) encounters revealed that about 1 in 15 (6.5%) older adults received potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) at discharge. Prescription rates declined with advancing age, from 8.3% among patients aged 65-74 years to 1.8% among those aged 95 years or older. Skeletal muscle relaxants and first-generation antihistamines were the most commonly prescribed high-risk medications.

EMS at 60: The past, present, and future of our profession Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS); by David Ferris; 2/10/26 This year, 2026, marks sixty years since the birth of organized national EMS in the United States, and I’ve been fortunate—or maybe stubborn—enough to ride in the back of an ambulance for more than half of that history. For 34 years I’ve carried a radio, a drug box, and the weight of responsibility that comes with being a paramedic. In that time, I’ve watched EMS evolve from the Wild West of guesswork and tradition into a profession grounded in evidence, outcomes, and community health. What follows isn’t just a timeline of milestones; it’s the story of EMS through my own eyes, ...Editor's Note: Whose life--in your life--has been saved (or significantly helped) by Emergency Medical Services?  Memories through the years break through my take-it-for-granted view. While in hospice we tend to downplay EMS calls and hospitalization, join me in gratitude for the timely, life-saving and mitigation of horrific outcomes provided 24/7 by EMS care.