S. 2287 — Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act

This section establishes a new Palliative Care and Hospice Education Program under part D of title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294 et seq.) by authorizing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants or contracts to eligible entities (i.e., schools of medicine and osteopathic medicine; public or private nonprofit entities; and other specified health professions schools and programs) for training health professionals in palliative and hospice care through traineeships, fellowships, clinical training, interprofessional education, and community-based initiatives. The programs must emphasize patient and family engagement, integration of palliative and hospice care with primary and specialty care, and collaboration with community partners to address gaps for individuals with serious or life-threatening illnesses; avoid duplicating existing centers under specified sections; prioritize coordination with other programs and benefits to rural or medically underserved areas, frontier health professional shortage areas, Indian Tribes, pediatric populations, and racial/ethnic minorities; and allow expansion of existing programs such as geriatric education centers. This section further authorizes grants and contracts to schools of medicine and osteopathic medicine, teaching hospitals, and graduate medical education programs to support accredited hospice and palliative medicine fellowships for physician training in interprofessional team-based palliative medicine, including 1-year retraining for faculty and 1- or 2-year programs with rotations across care settings and performance-based competency measures.

This section (1) adds hospice and palliative nursing to the purposes eligible for grants under the Nurse Education, Practice, and Quality Grants program (Section 831(b)(3) of the Public Health Service Act); and (2) establishes a Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training program (new Section 832). The program authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants or contracts to eligible entities (i.e., schools of nursing, health care facilities, certified nurse assistant programs, or partnerships thereof) to develop and implement interprofessional team-based palliative care training initiatives, in coordination with section 759A programs, for use in health-related educational, hospital, hospice, home, or long-term care settings. Grant funds may support training of palliative care providers, development and dissemination of curricula, faculty training, or continuing education. The section authorizes $5 million for each of FY2026 through FY2030.

This section establishes a new section 904 of the Public Health Service Act authorizing the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to disseminate information on the benefits of palliative care—defined to include pain and symptom management, support for shared decision-making, care coordination, psychosocial care, and spiritual care—throughout the continuum of care for patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses (e.g., cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia or ALS). If disseminated, the information must include (1) descriptions of palliative care as essential to quality care, (2) details on services and roles of hospice and palliative care professionals, (3) evidence-based research on benefits, and (4) population-specific materials for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, Veterans Health Administration patients, medically underserved populations (including pediatric, adolescent, young adult, and racial/ethnic minority patients), and their families or providers; such materials must be posted on websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Administration on Aging. The Director must consult professional societies, hospice and palliative care stakeholders, and patient advocate organizations on planning, development of materials, and defining serious or life-threatening illness.

This section prohibits the use of funds appropriated under this Act (or amendments made by this Act) to provide, promote, or provide training with regard to any item or service for which federal funding is prohibited under the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 14402)—i.e., assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing. It further clarifies that, as used in this Act (or amendments made by this Act), palliative care and hospice care shall not be furnished for the purpose of causing, or assisting in causing, a patient's death, for any reason.

This section establishes new Sec. 409K of the Public Health Service Act directing the HHS Secretary (or designee) to develop and implement a strategy across NIH institutes and centers to expand and intensify palliative care research programs addressing quality of care and quality of life for patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses (e.g., cancer; heart, kidney, liver, lung, and infectious diseases; neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). It also amends Sec. 402A(c)(2)(B) (42 U.S.C. 282a(c)(2)(B)), pertaining to the NIH Common Fund (i.e., account supporting trans-NIH research priorities identified by the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives), to include—beginning January 1, 2026—conducting or supporting palliative care research.