Hospice Keys

12/22/2025

Came across this article on changes in hospice care and thought it was interesting. Not sharing it to take a side -- just found the topic thought-provoking.

The concept of hospice was originally sold to the public as a better way to treat patients with terminal disease. The mission has been hijacked.

12/21/2025

12/21/2025

Should your chances of surviving a heart attack, a complicated pregnancy, or a mental health crisis depend on your address?

This new Hospice Keys blog on rural healthcare disparities looks at how fewer providers, hospital closures, and maternity care deserts shape everyday life outside big cities.

It’s not a policy paper. It's just an honest look at the gap between rural and metropolitan healthcare and some hard questions about fairness and equity.

Explores rural vs metropolitan healthcare disparities, from hospital closures to maternity deserts, and asks whether it’s fair that care depends on geography.

12/20/2025

Great news for New York seniors and their families! 🏡

Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation expanding property tax exemptions for seniors, allowing local communities to offer exemptions of up to 65% of assessed home value - up from the long-standing 50% limit.

This change could mean annual savings of up to $300 for eligible older adults living on fixed incomes, helping more seniors remain in their homes and communities rather than facing financial pressure to relocate.

As our population ages, policies like this support stability, safety, and dignity for older adults seeking to age in place.

📍 Eligibility is determined locally based on income criteria.

Governor Hochul signed legislation that enhanced real property tax exemptions for New York seniors. Legislation S5175A/A3698A allows localities to provide a real property tax exemption for senior citizens who meet the income eligibility limits, among other criteria, up to 65 percent percent of the a...

12/19/2025

12/18/2025

When we talk about “good care,” we usually start with tests, procedures, and guidelines.

But if you’ve ever sat at a bedside at 2am, you know that what stays with you is different:

- the doctor who pulled up a chair
- the nurse who came back after the family meeting
- the volunteer or chaplain who refused to let someone die alone

I wrote about the side of healthcare we almost never grade or schedule: presence, translation, and simply staying in the room when there’s nothing left to fix.

Healthcare is more than tests and treatments. Explore why presence, empathy, and clear communication matter when patients and families face a medical crisis.

12/17/2025

A final judgment has been reached in the DOJ’s case involving Amedisys and UnitedHealth Group.

Cases like this underscore how important healthy competition is in healthcare delivery - not only for protecting patients, but also for ensuring access, accountability, and high-quality care across the system.

A federal judge has given final approval to the settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Amedisys and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) that

12/17/2025

12/17/2025

“No one should have to die alone.”

This story about Geisinger Commonwealth medical students volunteering with the No One Dies Alone program really captures what that looks like in practice.

These students sit with hospice patients so that:
- Families can step away to rest, eat, or be with other loved ones, knowing someone is there.
- Staff get a little extra support in the room, allowing them to care for other patients who may have no visitors or need more intensive care.
- Students learn that medicine isn’t always “sunshine and rainbows” and that being present, even when there isn’t a cure, is still profoundly meaningful care.

Grateful for programs that weave compassion, presence, and humanity into medical education. 💙

Medical students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine volunteer to sit with hospice patients at Allied Services’ hospice centers in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton through the No One Dies Alone program.