1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act . 2. Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) Palliative care is interdisciplinary, patient- and family-centered health care for people with serious illnesses. This type of care is focused on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness, whatever the diagnosis. The goal of palliative care is to relieve suffering and improve quality of life for both patients and their families. Palliative care is provided by a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, physician assistants, chaplains, and other specialists who work with a patient’s other health care providers to provide an extra layer of support, including assistance with difficult medical decisionmaking and coordination of care among specialists. Palliative care is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and can be provided together with curative treatment. Palliative care is not dependent on a life-limiting prognosis and may actually help an individual recover from illness by relieving symptoms, such as pain, anxiety, or loss of appetite, while undergoing sometimes difficult medical treatments or procedures, such as surgery or chemotherapy. (2) Hospice is palliative care for patients in their last year of life. Considered the model for quality compassionate care for individuals facing a life-limiting illness, hospice provides expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes. In most cases, care is provided in the patient’s home but may also be provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities. In 2014, an estimated 1,600,000 to 1,700,000 patients received services from hospice, including non-Medicare beneficiaries. Nearly 48 percent of all Medicare decedents in 2014 received care from a hospice program. Hospice is a covered benefit under the Medicare program.