Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act
Sponsored By: Representative Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]
Introduced
Summary
Grows the palliative care and hospice workforce and boosts public education about palliative care. The bill creates coordinated grant and training programs, nursing grants, career incentives, and an NIH research strategy to expand clinical teams and outreach.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
NIH plan and reports on palliative research
If enacted, NIH would create a cross‑agency plan to grow palliative care research. The plan would cover cancers; heart, lung, kidney, liver, infectious, and neurodegenerative diseases. NIH reports would start tracking palliative care research on January 1, 2026.
Palliative care info for patients and families
If enacted, the Director could post clear palliative care information for patients, families, and clinicians. Materials would explain services, when they can be used alongside curative care, and team roles. Content would be posted on federal websites and tailored for Medicare, Medicaid, VA, underserved, pediatric, and minority groups. The Director would consult stakeholders and define serious or life‑threatening illness for these materials.
Career and training awards for clinicians
If enacted, medical schools and hospitals could get grants to train physicians in hospice and palliative medicine. Training would be based in an ACGME‑accredited fellowship with rotations across hospital, hospice, home, and community settings. Physicians could join a 1‑year retraining program or a 1–2 year program if board‑eligible. Students in fields like nursing, social work, pharmacy, and others could receive awards paid to their school, with a five‑year service rule after training. Junior faculty could get career awards up to five years, tied to an existing federal amount, and spend most funded time delivering palliative training.
Grants to train palliative care teams
If enacted, the government would fund training for palliative and hospice teams. About $15 million per year would support programs from FY2026 to FY2030. Nursing and nurse assistant programs could get another $5 million per year. Short fellowships would be capped at $150,000 each, with up to 24 awards. Priority would go to rural, underserved, Tribal, pediatric, and minority communities.
No funds or care to cause death
If enacted, providers could not use palliative or hospice care to cause or help cause a patient's death. Money from this Act could not be used to provide, promote, or train on services that federal law already bars funding for under 42 U.S.C. 14402.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]
GA • R
Cosponsors
Rep. Bera, Ami [D-CA-6]
CA • D
Sponsored 7/16/2025
McBride
DE • D
Sponsored 8/22/2025
Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
DC • D
Sponsored 9/15/2025
Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7]
VA • D
Sponsored 10/21/2025
Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2]
HI • D
Sponsored 11/10/2025
Rep. Tonko, Paul [D-NY-20]
NY • D
Sponsored 12/2/2025
Rep. Tran, Derek [D-CA-45]
CA • D
Sponsored 12/15/2025
Van Drew
NJ • R
Sponsored 3/12/2026
Rep. Goodlander, Maggie [D-NH-2]
NH • D
Sponsored 4/22/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov