Latest News On Hospice

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Prisons Routinely Ignore Guidelines on Dying Inmates’ End-of-Life Choices

KFF Health News Original

Correctional officers often dictate end-of-life care for incarcerated people who are terminally ill. Most states either don’t have a formal policy or are given leeway — a big concern for families and advocates, as the incarcerated population rapidly ages.

Padres con hijos muy enfermos encuentran consuelo y esperanza en la ayuda de hospicio en el hogar

KFF Health News Original

Si bien el cáncer es una de las principales enfermedades que afectan a los niños en cuidados paliativos, muchos otros tienen defectos congénitos raros, deficiencias neurológicas graves o deficiencias metabólicas poco comunes.

Shift in Child Hospice Care Is a Lifeline for Parents Seeking a Measure of Comfort and Hope

KFF Health News Original

Terminally ill children, unlike adults, can get hospice services while continuing to receive life-extending or curative care. More than a decade after the inception of the federal policy, it is widely credited with improving the quality of life for ailing children and their families, even as some parents find themselves in a painful stasis.

Hospices Have Become Big Business for Private Equity Firms, Raising Concerns About End-of-Life Care

KFF Health News Original

Private equity firms are seeing opportunities for profit in hospice care, once the domain of nonprofit organizations. The investment companies are transforming the industry — and might be jeopardizing patient care — in the process.

Black-Owned Hospice Seeks to Bring Greater Ease in Dying to Black Families

KFF Health News Original

National data shows that Black Medicare patients and their families are not making the move to comfort care as often as white patients are. Experts speculate it’s related to spiritual beliefs and widespread mistrust in the medical system due to decades of discrimination.

Para este enfermero de cuidados paliativos, la vacuna de covid llegó demasiado tarde

KFF Health News Original

Cuando comenzó la pandemia, Antonio Espinoza, de 36 años, se dedicó a ayudar a los pacientes terminales. Hasta que él mismo cayó enfermo a cinco días de haberse dado la primera dosis de la vacuna contra covid.

For This Hospice Nurse, the Covid Shot Came Too Late

KFF Health News Original

Antonio Espinoza, a hospice nurse in Southern California, ministered to terminally ill patients, including those with covid. He tested positive for covid five days after getting his first dose of vaccine and died a few weeks later.

Bringing ‘Poogie’ Home: Hospice In The Time Of COVID-19

KFF Health News Original

One family took up the challenge of taking their mother, who had serious medical problems and the coronavirus, from the hospital to die at home. But because of the risk of infection, home hospice can be a daunting experience.

Patients Want A ‘Good Death’ At Home, But Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families

KFF Health News Original

Fewer Americans are dying in a hospital, under the close supervision of doctors and nurses. That trend has been boosted by an expanded Medicare benefit that helps people live out their final days at home in hospice care. But as home hospice grows, so has the burden on families left to provide much of the care.

Congress Targets Misuse Of Hospice Drugs

KFF Health News Original

In the bipartisan opioid bill headed to the president’s desk, hospice workers would be allowed to destroy patients’ unneeded opioids, reducing the risk that families misuse them.