Summary#
This bill would add new programs and funding to increase education, training, and research in palliative care and hospice. It creates grant and contract programs for medical schools, nursing schools, and other training programs to run palliative care and hospice education programs, fellowships, short-term faculty fellowships, and career awards for junior faculty. It also adds a new Department of Health and Human Services information program to share materials about palliative care and requires the National Institutes of Health to develop a research strategy on palliative care. The bill adds hospice and palliative nursing to certain nurse grant programs and sets some limits on awards and program numbers.
What it means for you#
- Medical, nursing, social work, chaplaincy, physician assistant, pharmacy, psychology, and related programs could apply for grants to teach palliative and hospice care.
- Schools and hospitals could get funds to train clinicians, build interprofessional teams, and offer short-term fellowships to upgrade faculty and practitioners without formal palliative training.
- Junior faculty who are board certified or board eligible in palliative care could receive multi-year academic career awards if their institution applies on their behalf; award recipients must spend most of their funded time teaching palliative care.
- Students and trainees in eligible programs may be eligible for career incentive awards if they agree to teach or practice palliative care for at least five years after completing the award.
- The bill directs federal agencies to post public information about palliative care services, professionals, and research, and to target materials to specific groups such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans beneficiaries and underserved populations.
- The bill includes a clarification that palliative care and hospice under the programs are not to be used to cause or assist in causing a patient's death.
Expenses#
- The bill authorizes $15,000,000 for each fiscal year 2026 through 2030 for the main palliative care and hospice education and training section (Part D of Title VII amendment).
- It also authorizes $5,000,000 for each fiscal year 2026 through 2030 for the palliative care and hospice education and training additions to Title VIII (nursing and related training).
- Individual workforce development awards are limited to not more than $150,000 each, and no more than 24 programs may receive such awards under that subsection.
- Some award amounts are set to match or refer to amounts in other sections (for example, an academic career award amount is equal to the amount provided under section 753(b)(5)(A) for the fiscal year involved); specific dollar values for those cross-referenced amounts are not stated in this text.
Proponents' View#
The bill states its purpose is to increase the number of permanent faculty in palliative care, promote education and research in palliative care and hospice, support development of faculty careers in academic palliative and hospice care, expand training across care settings, and improve public information about palliative care.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.