Lower Cape Fear LifeCare CEO: Upstream Care Key to Reducing Health Care Fragmentation
Karen Brubaker Miller, the new CEO of Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, is focusing on financial stewardship, maintaining its CMS five‑star rating, and expanding strategic initiatives. She plans to grow hospice, palliative, and memory‑care services to meet rising demand from a rapidly aging population, especially as Brunswick County becomes one of the nation’s fastest‑growing regions. A recent $5.1 million grant will fund expanded memory‑care support, while the organization pursues upstream care to address late hospice referrals. Miller also signals a partnership‑focused approach rather than aggressive acquisitions.
CareFor Unveils New Hospice Program
Texas‑based care management firm CareFor has introduced CareFor Hospice, its first dedicated hospice service in the Austin region. The program provides comprehensive symptom management, emotional support, caregiver education and 24/7 clinical coverage, with nursing visits at least twice a week...
Why Pre-Admission Is Hospice’s Next Operational Advantage
Redwood Hospice in San Jose adopted ArcHouse’s pre‑admission platform to automate referral management and speed patient intake. The system consolidates clinical documents, tracks referral status in real time, and enables a physician‑run clinical review before a nurse visit. As a...
Hospices ‘Grow Smartly’ to Strengthen Staff Retention
Hospice providers are tackling acute staffing shortages by adopting slower, strategic growth models that prioritize retention. At the ELEVATE conference, Interim HealthCare CEO Rexanne Domico emphasized building community bonds and leveraging technology to create a reputation that attracts and keeps...
Enhabit Plans for ‘Aggressive’ Hospice Growth
Enhabit Inc. completed a $1.1 billion private‑equity acquisition by Kinderhook, taking the company private after a brief NYSE listing. New CEO Dale Clift, a longtime industry veteran, announced an aggressive growth agenda targeting double‑digit revenue expansion. The firm currently operates 117 hospice...
CMS Targeting Georgia, Ohio in Fraud Fight
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has broadened its provisional enhanced‑oversight program, originally applied to California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas, to include Georgia and Ohio retroactive to Dec. 31, 2025. Both states are experiencing a surge of new...
Proposed Community-Based Palliative Care Model Aims to Expand Access to Care
The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) and the Coalition to Transform Advance Care (C‑TAC) are developing a federal fee‑for‑service, community‑based palliative care model that would deliver services earlier in a patient’s serious‑illness trajectory. The proposal focuses on...
Cotiviti VP: Patients Need Education to Combat Hospice Fraud
Cotiviti’s fraud‑prevention VP Erin Rutzler warns that patient and family education is a missing piece in the fight against hospice fraud. She notes that fraud not only drains Medicare, Medicaid and commercial payer funds but also harms honest providers by...
Hospices Build Digitally Innovative Referral Streams
Hospice providers are turning to a blend of AI‑driven predictive analytics, digital storytelling, and hybrid virtual‑in‑person outreach to accelerate referrals and improve end‑of‑life care. Early identification of patients through machine‑learning models helps avoid late referrals that lead to short hospice...
Congress Takes Up Hospice Home Health Fraud Bill
Rep. Beth Van Duyne introduced the Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act to curb hospice and home‑health Medicare fraud. The legislation would boost oversight by increasing survey frequency for new or high‑risk providers, adding fingerprinting and liability‑insurance requirements, and standardizing...
HopeHealth’s New Academic Partnership a ‘Nexus’ of Hospice Leader Development
HopeHealth has formalized an academic practice partnership with the University of Rhode Island’s College of Nursing to expand hospice and palliative‑care training. The collaboration provides nursing students with advanced clinical rotations, research opportunities for doctoral candidates, and guest lectures from...
The Debate Over End-of-Life Doula Standardization
End‑of‑life doula services have grown, prompting calls for standardized training, certification, and possible reimbursement. Stakeholders debate whether to embed doula coverage in the Medicare Hospice Benefit or to create state‑level licensure programs, each with distinct pros and cons. Proponents argue...
Hospice M&A Valuations Ticking Upward
After a three‑year slump, hospice M&A activity rebounded in late 2025, with Q4 2025 seeing 16 transactions—the highest since 2021. The resurgence has nudged valuation multiples upward, driven by lower interest rates and sizable platform deals that commanded healthy premiums....
AI Ethical Minefields in Clinical Decision-Making
Hospice providers are testing AI for documentation, operational efficiency and clinical decision support, aiming to offset rising demand and shrinking staff. Dr. Kimberly Curseen of AAHPM argues that smart AI can lift administrative burdens without eroding patient rapport, but regulatory...
‘Demographics Are Destiny’ in Palliative Care
The aging U.S. population is driving a shift toward home‑based palliative care. VITAS Healthcare vice president Jennifer O’Neill warned that workforce growth is lagging behind patient demand and highlighted the need for staff and family education. Industry leaders such as...