Rave Reviews

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Gaines AG, Cagle JG. Associations between certificate of need policies and hospice quality outcomes. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2024;41(5):471-478. doi:10.1177/10499091231180613.

The relative quality of a hospice agency is often assessed through the lens of for-profit status and ownership type. This cross-sectional study adds the dimension, via state law, as to whether a certificate of need is needed to open a hospice agency. Based on hospice item set data for Medicare-certified hospices, the authors show a signal for better hospice care in states that require a certificate of need.

Bass K, Gupta R, Wells C, et al. Managing end of life care for the critically ill: a novel program to deliver bedside critical care without transfer to the intensive care unit. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2025;42(1):41-47. doi:10.1177/10499091241234060.

The transition in an acute-care setting to comfort-focused care at the end of life implies a reframing of goals and plan of care. This single-site experience profiles an Appropriate Care Escalation add-on to the rapid response paradigm to caring for decompensating patients. Stopping to pause and consider whether decompensation represents dying or a treatable complication, the authors offer a model for intentional—and not empirically intensive—care.

Khalil H, Hardman R, Livens M, et al. Development and implementation of the Palliative Care Assessment Toolkit for rural aged care facilities in Australia. J Palliat Med. 2025;28(3):302-309. doi:10.1089/jpm.2024.0368.

This programmatic retrospective study offers implementation insights for the provision of specialty care in rural, postacute settings. The tool kit was associated with improved care outcomes across domains of palliative care for a subpopulation at risk for inequitable care.