TCN Talks

Compassion opens the door—but expertise is what makes the promise of hospice and palliative care real. In Part Two | “Why Hospice and Palliative Care Expertise Matters—with Dr. Kristi Newport,” Chris Comeaux continues the conversation about the clinical expertise, workforce investment, and leadership decisions that shape quality serious illness care. How can hospice and palliative care organizatio...

What makes hospice and palliative care a medical specialty—and why should healthcare leaders insist on specialized expertise? In Part One of “Why Hospice and Palliative Care Expertise Matters ,” Chris Comeaux speaks with Dr. Kristi Newport about the clinical knowledge, communication skills, and interdisciplinary collaboration behind high-quality serious illness care. Dr. Newport, chief medical off...

Your hospice SSVI score raises questions. Does your leadership team know what’s driving the answers? In Hospice SSVI Explained: What Your Score Isn’t Telling You | Part Two, Chris Comeaux welcomes back Lindsay Doak to examine hospice SSVI, CMS oversight, and the leadership decisions behind the data. Discover why understanding your score requires a closer look at non-hospice spending, visit-minute...

Your hospice SSVI score may leave out the context your leadership team needs most. In “Hospice SSVI Explained: What Your Score Isn’t Telling You | Part One,” Chris Comeaux welcomes HealthPivots’ Lindsay Doak to TCNtalks / Anatomy of Leadership for a closer look at the Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI). What do hospice utilization and non-hospice spending reveal about care delivery? Where...

FULL EPISODE of “The Debate: Vertical Integration, Payvider or World-Class Care—Which Path Forward?” This video brings together the complete discussion behind the previously released segments on hospice strategy, palliative care, and the future of healthcare leadership. What if the greatest threat to hospice is succeeding at the wrong strategy? In this special episode of TCNtalks / Anatomy of Lead...

The future of hospice and palliative care demands difficult choices about growth, financial responsibility, and clinical excellence.  How can leaders build a sustainable organization while keeping patients and families at the center?  Part Four brings those choices into sharp focus. Three characters.  Three competing healthcare strategies.  One host putting every approach to the test. In The Debat...

Who controls the healthcare dollar—and how does that control shape patient care? In Part Three of The Debate: Vertical Integration, Payvider or World-Class Care—Which Path Forward? , Chris Comeaux examines whether aligning healthcare financing and care delivery can help hospice and palliative care organizations better serve patients—or introduce new conflicts between financial performance and miss...

Can vertical integration help hospice organizations deliver better care earlier—and sustain the investment required? In Part Two of “The Debate: Vertical Integration, Payvider or World-Class Care—Which Path Forward?” , Chris Comeaux examines the case for extending hospice expertise into palliative care and home-based primary care for frail elders. Paul presents a vision of care built around lastin...

What if hospice succeeds at the wrong strategy?  Chris Comeaux explores three paths for the future of hospice and palliative care: vertical integration, the payvider model, and world-class specialty care. In Part One of THE Debate: Vertical Integration, Payvider or World-Class Care—Which Path Forward? , Chris sets the stage for an unusual conversation—playing three characters, Paul, Christopher an...

What happens when the demand for care grows faster than the workforce available to provide it? Ron Hetrick joins host Chris Comeaux on TCNTalks / Anatomy of Leadership to explore the healthcare workforce crisis—and the decisions leaders can make today to prepare for tomorrow’s staffing challenges. In Part Two, the conversation moves into practical workforce planning: improving care jobs, developin...

The healthcare workforce crisis is bigger than unfilled jobs. What happens when demand for care keeps growing while the pool of available workers shrinks? In “ The Workforce Crisis Healthcare Leaders Can’t Afford to Ignore | Part One ,” Chris Comeaux welcomes Ron Hetrick, principal economist at Lightcast , to TCNtalks / Anatomy of Leadership for a candid conversation about healthcare staffing shor...

Hospice’s future is being shaped by the headlines leaders cannot afford to overlook. In Hospice at a Crossroads: The Top News Stories Leaders Can’t Ignore | Part Two , Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner examine the hospice news and healthcare leadership questions that deserve your attention—from fraud and public trust to caregiver support, workforce sustainability, and AI in healthcare. Drawing on ar...

Hospice leaders face a defining question: How do we protect trust and deliver exceptional care as the field changes around us? In Hospice at a Crossroads: The Top News Stories Leaders Can’t Ignore | Part One, Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner unpack hospice and palliative care news from July–September 2026.  Using Dr. Ira Byock’s framework and readership insights from Hospice and Palliative Care Tod...

Who will lead community-based palliative care—and how will they pay for care that meets patients’ needs? In Part Two of The Future of Palliative Care: Who Will Lead, Who Will Pay, and What Comes Next? , Chris Comeaux joins CAPC CEO Brynn Bowman to explore palliative care reimbursement, hospice leadership, and the choices shaping serious illness care. Bowman makes a clear distinction: many organiza...

What will it take for palliative care to reach every patient who needs it—and who will ultimately pay for that care? In Part One of “The Future of Palliative Care: Who Will Lead, Who Will Pay, and What Comes Next?” , host Chris Comeaux sits down with Brynn Bowman, CEO of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) , for a forward-looking conversation about the forces reshaping palliative care—and...

What if the greatest leadership advantage in the age of AI is something technology can never truly replicate? As artificial intelligence transforms how we work, lead, and communicate, the temptation is to use technology to accomplish more—and move even faster. But what if the real opportunity is to use AI to create more margin for the human work of leadership? In Part Two of “AI Can’t Replace This...

What if the greatest leadership advantage in the age of AI is something artificial intelligence can never truly replicate? As AI becomes smarter, faster, and more embedded in the workplace, Dr. Andrea Hollingsworth believes the qualities that make us distinctly human—compassion, connection, vulnerability, and the ability to care—are becoming more valuable, not less. In Part One of “AI Can’t Replac...

Hospice is changing—and the leaders who prepare now will be positioned to shape what comes next. In Part Two of The Critical Competencies Hospice Leaders Must Build for Value-Based Care Success, host Chris Comeaux continues his conversation with Dr. Jessica Hubbs about what hospice and palliative care organizations need to succeed as healthcare moves toward more integrated, value-based models. Wha...

The future of hospice is being rewritten—and the organizations that prepare now may be the ones best positioned to serve patients in a value-based world. Healthcare is rapidly moving beyond traditional fee-for-service toward models focused on outcomes, total cost of care, and coordinated care delivery .  In Part One of The Critical Competencies Hospice Leaders Must Build for Value-Based Care Succe...

Your culture isn’t defined by what your organization says it values—it’s revealed by the behaviors it allows, rewards, and repeats. In Part Two of Your Culture Isn't What You Say—It's What You Tolerate , host Chris Comeaux continues his conversation with author and leadership expert Tom Foster about what it takes to intentionally build a strong organizational culture. Tom challenges lead...

Your culture isn’t what your organization says it values—it’s what your leaders are willing to tolerate. In Part One of Your Culture Isn't What You Say—It's What You Tolerate , host Chris Comeaux sits down with Tom Foster , President of Foster Learning Corporation and author of Premeditated Culture: The Consequences of What We Tolerate , to explore how leaders intentionally—or unintentio...

The hospice moratorium may eventually end—but CMS scrutiny of hospice is likely here to stay. In Part Two of The Hospice Moratorium: What CMS Is Really Signaling About the Future , Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner continue their conversation with Dr. Jennifer Kennedy, Vice President for Quality, Standards and Compliance at CHAP , about what hospice leaders should expect when the moratorium is lifte...

The hospice moratorium may be temporary—but the changes it signals for hospice oversight could be permanent. In Part One of The Hospice Moratorium: What CMS Is Really Signaling About the Future , Chris Comeaux and Cordt Kassner, PhD, are joined by Dr. Jennifer Kennedy, Vice President for Quality, Standards and Compliance at CHAP , to unpack why CMS implemented the hospice moratorium and what it co...

What if the frustration, anger, and resistance showing up in your organization aren't signs of disengagement—but signals that your people still deeply care? In Part Two of From Zombies to Zealots: Cultivating Passion and Purpose in Healthcare Leadership , host Chris Comeaux continues his thought-provoking conversation with DJ Mitsch , author, master coach, and founder of the Healthcare Coachi...

What turns a passionate healthcare professional into a “zombie” at work—and what can leaders do to help reignite that sense of purpose? In Part One of From Zombies to Zealots: Cultivating Passion and Purpose in Healthcare Leadership , host Chris Comeaux is joined by DJ Mitsch , author, master coach, and founder of the Healthcare Coaching Institute, and Tasha Walsh , CEO and Executive Director of C...