OP-ED: How hospice care falls short for people living with dementia

OP-ED: How hospice care falls short for people living with dementia 
Being Patient - Alzheimer's News, Advice, Stories & Support; by Maria J. Silveira; 5/30/25
Only 12 percent of Americans with dementia ever enroll in hospice. This may be due to how hospice is structured and paid for in the U.S., explains University of Michigan associate professor of internal medicine Maria J Silveira. ... In contrast to the former president [Jimmy Carter's extended hospice care], his wife, who had dementia, lived only nine days under hospice care. Palliative care physicians like myself who treat both conditions are not surprised at all by this disparity. ... Strikingly, only 12 percent of Americans with dementia ever enroll in hospice. Among those who do, one-third are near death. This is in stark contrast to the cancer population: Patients over 60 with cancer enroll in hospice 70 percent of the time.