Literature Review

Senior health, home health & hospice stocks Q2 teardown: Brookdale (NYSE:BKD) vs the rest Fox 46; Press Release; 9/17/26 Wrapping up Q2 earnings, we look at the numbers and key takeaways for the senior health, home health & hospice stocks, including Brookdale (NYSE:BKD) and its peers. ... The 7 senior health, home health & hospice stocks we track reported a mixed Q2. As a group, revenues missed analysts’ consensus estimates by 0.5%. Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 10.6% since the latest earnings results.

2027 trends to watch: Distributed care will drive the next phase of healthcare delivery Definitive Healthcare; by Ethan Popowitz; 9/17/26 Healthcare delivery has never been confined to a single setting. But the number of places where patients can receive care, and the range of services available outside the hospital, have grown in recent years. Today, a single patient journey might include a primary care visit, diagnostic imaging at an outpatient center, a procedure at an ambulatory surgery center (ASC), a virtual follow-up, and remote monitoring from home. ... This more distributed model of healthcare delivery is being shaped by several forces at once, from advances in medical technology and economic pressures to workforce shortages and more. 

Squirrel Hill nursing home sued over man's hypothermia death hoodline, Pittsburgh, PA; by Samantha Davis; 9/2/26 George Agie was 78 years old, living with heart failure, a seizure disorder, and end-stage renal disease, when a paramedic crew found him inside a bitterly cold room at Squirrel Hill Wellness and Rehabilitation Center on January 29, with a core body temperature of just 82.2 degrees. He died less than two months later, and now his sister is suing the facility, claiming a malfunctioning heater and inattentive staff let a survivable situation turn fatal. ... Agie remained hospitalized through February 16 before being discharged to receive hospice care at home, where he died on March 24. 

Dementia associated with shorter survival, fewer days at home after hip fractureHealio; by Ashlee Moore; 9/2/26Key takeaways:

Alzheimer’s blood test gets FDA clearance, but not CMS coverage Inside Health Policy, Washington, DC; by Jessica Karins; 9/2/26 A blood test aiming to help with early identification of Alzheimer’s disease, including in primary care settings, by detecting buildup in the brain of the key Alzheimer’s biomarker amyloid beta plague, has been cleared by FDA, but the test and others in its category are not yet covered by CMS or any Medicare Administrative Contractors, its developer confirmed, with MACs having to make an individual determination for each patient of whether payment for the test is appropriate.

[United Kingdom] Stirling University expert helps design dementia friendly flat for F1 legend Jackie Stewart's wife Lady Helen Edinburgh Evening News, Edinburgh, England; by The Newsroom; 8/28/26 An architect from the University of Stirling has helped design a dementia-friendly apartment for Lady Helen Stewart, wife of former racing champion Sir Jackie Stewart. Lady Helen was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2012 and Sir Jackie has become a passionate campaigner raising millions of pounds for research through his charity Race Against Dementia. The couple celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary today, Friday, August 28. ... Dementia-friendly features in the renovated apartment include: low-level counters to allow Lady Helen to interact and participate in cooking; a see-through and easily accessible fridge; visible open cabinets and front-facing clothing in the bedroom; integrated lighting for personal items; subtle and custom-made medical, cleaning and disinfection areas; and private medical areas for Lady Helen and her care providers.

NY Medicaid Revalidation and Enrollment Moratorium: immediate planning considerations for providers JDSupra; by Marc A. Antonucci; 8/20/26 New York Medicaid providers should prepare now for significant changes in provider enrollment oversight. The New York State Department of Health (DOH), following direction from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), will require every Medicaid-enrolled provider in New York to complete revalidation over the next 24 months. The process will require coordination among compliance, operations, billing, finance, governance, and transaction teams. DOH will implement the State’s CMS-approved revalidation strategy through a phased schedule and the Provider Services Portal (PSP). Providers should expect electronic submission requirements, phased notices, detailed ownership and affiliation disclosures, and screening requirements. 

Who should palliative care see? Diane Meier, Bob Arnold, and Justin Sanders GeriPal; by Alex Smith; 8/13/26 As Diane Meier remarks to start today’s podcast, palliative care has come a long way from the days when we were the “brink of death” consult. We’re seeing patients earlier and earlier in the course of illness.  In fact, the evidence base for specialist palliative care is arguably stronger in the outpatient setting than the inpatient setting.  In some ways, as Eric remarked, we are a victim of our own success. We’ve pushed on the boundaries of seeing patients earlier in the course of illness, we’ve demonstrated remarkable value to our colleagues and health systems: now they want us to see more and more patients, with conditions we would not have previously considered core to palliative care practice. Our guests modeled respectful disagreement, and we were somewhat surprised that there was more agreement than we expected.  

Palliative care consults for the oldest-old: A retrospective study of referral patterns, patient characteristics, and clinical outcomes Geriatric Nursing; by John Cameron, Kalli Stilos, Anita Chakraborty; 8/11/26Objective: This study describes the characteristics and outcomes of patients aged 90 and older (the oldest-old) receiving inpatient palliative care consultation at a tertiary care hospital, to identify gaps and opportunities to improve care. ... Conclusion: Referrals for specialist palliative care in the oldest-old occur late in hospitalization, predominantly among those with non-cancer illnesses and poor functional status. Systemic changes, including the use of prognostication tools and enhanced collaboration between geriatric and palliative care services, are needed. Nurses are pivotal in advocating for earlier advance care planning (ACP) and identifying patients who would benefit from timely palliative integration to ensure goal-concordant care.

What does Medicare actually cover in a best-rated memory care facility?U.S. News & World Report; by Vanessa Cacers; 7/21/26 |Memory care facilities offer a safe, supportive environment for those with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, but care can be costly. Learn what memory care services Medicare will pay for. |Key Takeaways

My parents moved in with us before my dad got sick. It made all the difference when he passed. Business Insider; by Justin Murphy; 6/27/26

The missing middle in healthcare—and why it matters | part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Bridget Sumser and Sonya Dolan; 6/20/26 What happens between a life-changing diagnosis and hospice care?  In Part One of this thought-provoking conversation, Chris Comeaux welcomes Mettle Health co-founder Sonya Dolan and Director of Counseling & Programs Bridget Sumser to explore what they call healthcare’s “missing middle.” ... Together, they unpack how Mettle Health was created to provide a different kind of support: one centered on accompaniment rather than treatment, resilience rather than answers, and human connection rather than healthcare transactions.