Literature Review

[Ireland] Palliative care research priorities highlighted in new reportIrish Medical Times; by Michael McHale; 11/21/25Demand for palliative care is estimated to grow by 75 per cent in the Republic of Ireland by 2046 and 31 per cent in Northern Ireland by 2040... The report, ‘All Ireland Palliative and End-of-Life Care Research Priorities 2025-2030’, was launched at the annual Palliative Care Research Network Symposium, which took place in Dublin on Thursday... The top 10 areas identified for further research [include]:

Balancing caregiving and personal well-being: The role of palliative care WISHTV.com-8, Indianapolis, IN; by Alfonso Ruvalcaba Trujillo; 11/17/25 Nearly 60 million Americans are providing unpaid care for loved ones facing serious illness, often without the necessary support, according to recent reports. ... Dr. Michael Gabriel, National Medical Director for Carelon Palliative Care, explains that palliative care offers an extra layer of support alongside regular medical treatment, focusing on improving quality of life by addressing physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Care of the dying patient: Maximizing compassionate care on the battlefield Military Medicine; by Kathryn B Muir, Jeremy Edwards, Rebeccah Dindinger, Benjamin Ingram, Benjamin Baker; 11/9/25... Palliative care has also been employed throughout history on the battlefield and is a vital component of compassionate care for dying patients. Unfortunately, its use on the battlefield is an unpalatable topic with little formal documentation. ... We must prepare now to reduce the pain and suffering of dying patients on the battlefield and potentially mitigate the degree of moral injury sustained by the personnel managing those casualties. Consider ...

Palliative care & hospice poll reveals major gaps Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan; by Michigan Medicine; 11/6/25 Many older adults don’t know much about care options for people with serious illness, but express interest once they’re explained to them. ... In all, 33% of older Michiganders were aware of palliative care, ... leaving 67% saying they knew little or nothing about it. But after being given the definition of palliative care, 79% of Michiganders were interested in receiving palliative care if they had a serious illness ... Michiganders were as likely as those in the rest of the U.S. to know about (68%) and be interested in (82%) hospice care. However, there was a sizable gap in hospice interest between Black Michiganders (70%) and white Michiganders (84%). 

The Valerie Fund pledges $3.5 million to establish new pediatric pain and palliative care program at Hackensack Meridian Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital News Wise, Hackensack, NJ; by Hackensack Meridian Health; 11/3/25 Hackensack Meridian Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital today announced a transformative, 5-year, $3.5 million commitment from The Valerie Fund to significantly expand its Pediatric Pain and Palliative Care Program. The landmark donation will establish The Valerie Fund Pediatric Pain and Palliative Care Program at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital, located at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ, ... This new partnership will allow the hospital to care for more people annually, growing from approximately 1,750 to 3,500 patient visits. 

CAPC and the National Kidney Foundation partner on The Case for Palliative Care in Kidney CareCAPC blog; 10/8/25New publication underscores how palliative care can improve outcomes for patients with advanced kidney disease. The CAPC and the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) have released a new publication, The Case for Palliative Care in Kidney Care, which emphasizes the critical need to integrate palliative care services into the treatment of patients with advanced kidney disease.

GeriPal Live! at CAPC: Karen Bullock, Kim Curseen, Matt GonzalesGeriPal podcast; by Eric Widera, Alex Smith, Karen Bullock, Kim Curseen, Matt Gonzales; 10/9/25Eric and I had the pleasure of doing a GeriPal Live! Podcast as the closing keynote for the recent Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) National Assembly in Philadelphia PA. For this podcast, we invited 3 guests to each select an article of interest to them, and engage in a discussion about the article, including questions from the CAPC attendees in the audience. Matt Gonzales used AI to select an article by Ravi Parikh on algorithm based nudges to default patients with advanced cancer into a palliative care consult... Kim Curseen selected an article by Harry Han in JPSM that surveyed palliative care fellowships... Karen Bullock selected a letter she first authored in response to Ira Byock’s white paper on a path forward in hospice and palliative care.

With palliative care, earlier referrals mean fewer end-of-life emergency department visits ONS Voice; by Anne Snively, MBA, CAE; 10/15/25 Patients with cancer who are referred to palliative care within one month of death have a mean of 1.17 emergency department (ED) visits, compared to a mean of 0.13 visits for patients referred to palliative care 12 months or more before death—a 160% difference. The data are part of a new study published in JAMA Network Open in July 2025. ... Most of ED visits (47.0%) and EOL ED visits (81.4%) occurred within one month of the palliative care consultation, but the researchers found that both kinds of ED visits “gradually decreased as the time from consultation to death extended.” 

Palliative care remains underused among young adults with advanced cancer in U.S. American Cancer Society, Chicago, IL; 10/10/25 Although palliative care use has increased over time among young adults with advanced cancers in the United States, new research led by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that utilization still remains very low. Palliative care focuses on improving the quality of life for individuals with serious or life-limiting illnesses. ... Researchers, led by Kewei (Sylvia) Shi, MPH, at the American Cancer Society, used the National Cancer Database to identify patients aged 18-39 who were newly diagnosed with stage-IV cancers. ... The study included a total of 76,666 patients. The percentage receiving any palliative care increased from 2.0% in 2010 to 4.8% in 2023.

How palliative care supports families emotionally and physically Elevated Magazines; 10/3/25 People often feel lost when someone they love is diagnosed with a serious illness. The shift in daily routines, the constant medical appointments, and the uncertainty about the future can feel overwhelming. Palliative care steps in to ease this transition, offering medical expertise and guidance that helps families adjust to new roles and responsibilities. Having a care team that understands both medical needs and the emotional burden can make a significant difference.

Emergency Departments report more consults for hospice, palliative care Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; by Michigan State University; 9/25/25 One-third of Americans will visit an emergency department, or ED, within a month of their death. While EDs are primarily purposed to provide emergent care, they’re increasingly becoming an initial touchpoint for hospice and palliative care, or HPC, referrals and consultations, according to a new study from several researchers at Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences.  Why this matters:

Health systems should empower their primary care physicians to deliver better palliative and end-of-life care Medscape - Family Medicine; by Edward L. Burns, MD, MA; 9/17/25 Primary care physicians (PCPs) play a pivotal role in managing the overall well-being of their patients. However, when it comes to palliative and end-of-life care, many health systems do not train or empower their PCPs to manage this important part of their patients’ lives. ... By systematically training PCPs in palliative care principles and communication skills, health systems can simultaneously deliver significantly higher quality, patient-centered care that aligns with families’ values and wishes, while reducing unnecessary hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and aggressive interventions that may not align with patients’ wishes. 

Nursing homes can disrupt ‘rehabbed to death’ cycle with PDPM-based palliative care Skilled Nursing News; by Kristin Carroll; 9/7/25 ... Skilled nursing facilities can leverage the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) to provide more palliative care to people near the end of life, helping to drive value-based care goals while improving the patient experience. However, much more needs to be done on the policy level to disrupt the current status quo, in which people commonly go through several care transitions near the end of life, driving up costs across the health care system while patients receive services that are not aligned with their own goals. Enabling concurrent SNF and hospice care is one change that could lead to improvement. These are assertions in the recent article “Rehab and Death: Improving End-Of-Life Care for Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility Beneficiaries,” published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.