Medicare expands comfort care for seriously ill patients, 24/7 access nationwide
S. 1935 — Expanding Access to Palliative Care Act · Filed by Jacky Rosen (D-NV) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a new Medicare program to provide community-based palliative care (comfort-focused medical care for people with serious illnesses) to eligible beneficiaries, replacing the existing Medicare Care Choices Model. The program will be tested for 5 years, serving Medicare beneficiaries with serious conditions like cancer, heart disease, dementia, and others, delivered by teams that include hospice-certified providers working alongside primary care doctors. Care is available 24/7 in homes, facilities, or community settings, and includes pain management, symptom relief, advance care planning, mental health support, and family counseling—with no exclusion for people who previously used hospice benefits.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a Medicare demonstration project expanding access to palliative care services for seriously ill beneficiaries. It is a straightforward public-health measure designed to improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary acute care utilization.
What the text implies
- The program's success in reducing emergency department visits and hospitalizations could shift care delivery patterns away from acute-care settings, potentially affecting hospital revenue models and emergency department utilization rates.
- By explicitly including providers 'associated with a hospice program' as eligible participants, the bill may create new revenue streams for hospice organizations through palliative care services delivered outside the traditional hospice benefit structure.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
hospice organizations and palliative care providers; home health agencies; integrated health systems and hospitals offering palliative care