Summary

Creates new federal programs and resources to expand the palliative care and hospice workforce, improve nursing and clinician training, share patient- and clinician-facing information about palliative care, and strengthen palliative care research across NIH. It authorizes multi-year funding for grants, fellowships, faculty awards, retraining, curricula development, and a required NIH strategy; one provision becomes effective 90 days after enactment and most funding is authorized for fiscal years 2026–2030.

Key Points

• Creates a new Part D-style federal program to fund education, training, and workforce development in palliative care and hospice.
• Authorizes grants, fellowships, faculty awards, physician retraining, and career incentives to grow the palliative workforce.
• Establishes a separate federal program to support hospice and palliative nursing education with $5 million/year authorized for FY2026–2030.
• Requires patient- and clinician-facing palliative care informational materials developed with stakeholder input and posted on federal websites if disseminated.
• Directs NIH to adopt and implement a cross‑agency strategy to expand palliative care research and add palliative research reporting to NIH reports.
• Prohibits use of funds for items/services already barred by existing federal restrictions and clarifies palliative services cannot be used to cause patient death.
• Most program authorizations run for FY2026–2030; one major amendment becomes effective 90 days after enactment.
• Programs prioritize rural and underserved areas and allow the Secretary to set limits or caps on certain awards.
• Authorizations create a framework to strengthen training pipelines but require future appropriations to fund activity.

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