Hospice Care
Latest Hospice Care News
One Danced. Another Delivered 3,000 Diapers. Five Volunteers Share Their Stories!
April 20, 2026–This week is National Volunteer Week (April 19-25), when we recognize and honor the incredible people who volunteer their time and services to VNS Health. In 2025, more than 345 volunteers—including 66 people who’d never volunteered for us previously—contributed over 27,600 hours of their time to teams across VNS Health, representing $961,352.07 in value to the organization. To help celebrate National Volunteer Week, in this Frontline article we spotlight five of our amazing volunteers! And to our VNS Health volunteers reading this… a big THANK YOU for all you do! To go directly to a volunteer profile, click on the links below or you can just scroll down to find them all. Protecting Chinatown Seniors Against Fraud When Yvonne, Ng Cheng retired two years ago, she was ready to give back. Encouraged by her cousin, who also volunteers for VNS Health, she quickly discovered how meaningful the experience can be.
Our Most Vulnerable Health Plan Members Need Us More Than Ever! Here’s What You Can Do.
April 14, 2026–The New York State budget is being finalized—and funding for our Managed Long-Term Care (MLTC) Health Plan that allows low-income Medicaid older New Yorkers and people living with disabilities to receive care at home is at serious risk. Here’s what you can do: First, contact your elected officials. It is easy to do—just click here and put in your name and address. It will automatically populate with your elected officials and then you tap “send.” Please take a few minutes to help our vulnerable health plan members. Then tune in to Dan’s CEO Zoom on Tuesday. On Tuesday, April 21, at 8:30 a.m. Dan will cover this and other organizational updates. And finally, catch up on what’s going on. over the past few months, CEO Dan Savitt, our Government Affairs team, as well as other team members from across the organization have ramped up our VNS Health advocacy efforts in Albany.
Celebrating Our Home Care and Hospice Business Support Teams! Photos Are Here!
April 13, 2026–On Wednesday morning, April 8th, over 80 VNS Health team members from across our Home Care and Hospice teams — including Scheduling, Physician Orders, Document Control, Coding, Contract Administration and Operations Administration — gathered for an appreciation breakfast honoring the important work they do every day in providing the best possible care for our patients, members and clients. The event included brief remarks from Chief of Provider Services David Rosales, celebrating the team members’ work and their years of service. In his remarks, David likened their many contributions to the recent Artemis II moon mission, pointing out that while the four astronauts in space circled the moon, there were thousands of people behind the scenes at NASA supporting them along the way to ensure their safe return. As David noted, the same holds true for the many dedicated team members who support the delivery of care at VNS Health. See the event photos here!
Ambient AI Is Going to Enhance Patient and Clinician Experience. This Video Shows Why.
April 7, 2026–VNS Health is introducing an Ambient AI documentation platform called Nestmed to our Home Care clinicians for use during patient visits, starting with our Long Island teams. How it works: At the start of each home visit, the clinician taps the Nestmed app on their tablet screen. The app then uses ambient listening to capture clinically relevant information from the visit. Once the visit ends, the app goes on to complete much of the relevant documentation. The clinician simply needs to review the notes, amend as needed, and approve them for transfer into the patient’s electronic medical record. This is going to be a real game-changer for us. To see how, watch the video below. It features three field clinicians from our Home Care team—PT Billy Campbell and RNs Pryanka Kaur and Debbie Starace—who, for the past few months, have been using Ambient AI for start-of-care visits in a test
The 2026 VNS Health Social Work Month Celebration Photos and Video Are Here!
March 31, 2026–March is National Social Work Month. On March 24th, to honor this special occasion, over 120 Social Services Professionals gathered at our 220 East 42nd Street location for a fun breakfast celebration. The morning’s proceedings included presentations by CEO Dan Savitt and SVP for Behavioral Health Jessica Fear, a salute to Gender Affirmation Program’s Asha Lyons as the 2026 winner of the VNS Health Social Services Professional of the Year Award, and a raffle. A continuing education unit (CEU) followed. For those Social Services Professionals who were unable to make the event, a similar virtual celebration occured two days later that included a presentation by Chief of Provider Services David Rosales. And don’t miss the video of Asha accepting her award below! To see photos of the in-person event, click on the slideshow below. Asha Lyons, the 2026 Social Services Professional of the Year, accepting her award.
A Delivery Driver Starts Yelling at You. What Should You Do?
March 23, 2026–New York City is a place where millions of people live in close proximity to one another. With so many people, situations can sometimes arise that may threaten your safety. Here are three real-life incidents that actually happened to VNS Health team members. With that in mind, VNS Health has a team member whose job it is to help keep us all safe. Her name is Lauren Campbell, and she’s our Emergency Management and Employee Safety Director. For the past eight-plus years, Lauren has been working with teams across the organization to implement and maintain safety policies and procedures that are designed to keep both team members who work in the field and those who work in our offices as safe as possible. The following three incidents really happened to VNS Health team members. See how each team member responded. Then read Lauren’s recommended response to see how best to respond if you should
Our Social Service Professionals Share What They Like Best About Social Work
March 16, 2026–Happy Social Work Month! In honor of National Social Work Month, Frontline asked some of VNS Health’s nearly 600 social service professionals, “What do you like best about social work?” Here’s what they said: “Working together as a team to support people from all different backgrounds and circumstances—and witnessing the intimate moments during the last days of life when you see the best of humanity—are truly gifts. I never take them for granted.” Bianca Davies, LSW, Manhattan, Hospice Care “What I love about social work is being the voice for those who don’t believe they have a voice. The impoverished communities can be overlooked, and we make sure they are seen and heard.” –Debra Thomas, Associate Director, Children’s Mobile Crisis Team, Behavioral Health “My favorite part of this work is seeing the person behind the problem. I really believe in people’s possibilities, even when others only see their limitations. At its core, social
Test Your Knowledge of Patient Safety. Take Our Quiz!
March 10, 2026–This week, from March 8 through March 14, is Patient Safety Awareness Week, an annual recognition week that occurs each year at this time. How much do you know about patient safety? Take this quiz created by Catherine Schaefer, Vice President, Quality, Provider Services, and Vandana Arora, Patient Safety Program Manager—and find out!
VNS Health Is Off and Running in 2026: Check Out Our Latest News Briefs!
March 3, 2026–We’re only a few months into 2026, and lots of great things are happening across VNS Health. How do you keep up with everything? One easy way is to read the latest batch of News Briefs, below. And remember, if you have any news or happenings that you’d like to share in an upcoming News Briefs, please click here. VNS Health Earns Heart Failure Certification from the American Heart Association VNS Health Home Care has earned the American Heart Association (AHA) Heart Failure Certification, a recognition that reflects excellence in delivering standardized, evidence-based treatment. With relatively few home care organizations in our service area holding this accreditation, this achievement further differentiates us as a provider of both home-based 4Ms Age-Friendly Care and expert heart failure care for patients living with heart failure. Among the steps taken to achieving the certification—and as part of VNS Health’s unwavering commitment to high-quality care—our Home