Managing End Of Life Care

Managing End-of-Life Care

Guides end-of-life transitions with hospice referral criteria, comfort care protocols, and family communication.

Why This Skill Exists

Approximately 600,000 Americans die of cancer annually, yet end-of-life care quality remains inconsistent. NCI and ASCO define high-quality end-of-life cancer care by specific metrics: hospice enrollment ≥3 days before death, no chemotherapy within 14 days of death, no ICU admission within 30 days of death, and no more than one ED visit within 30 days of death. Currently, median hospice length of stay for cancer patients is approximately 20 days, with 28% of patients enrolling in the last 3 days of life — too late to benefit from comprehensive hospice services.

CMS hospice benefit requires a physician certification that the patient has a terminal illness with a life expectancy of 6 months or less if the disease follows its normal course. ASCO guidelines recommend that oncologists initiate end-of-life discussions early and refer to hospice when disease-directed therapy is no longer beneficial. Poor end-of-life care coordination results in unnecessary suffering, unwanted aggressive interventions, complicated bereavement for families, and high healthcare costs concentrated in the final weeks of life.

Checkpoint A: Pre-Draft Intake (Mandatory)

1. What is the cancer diagnosis, stage, and treatment history? (Default: [VERIFY])
2. What disease-directed treatment options remain, if any? (Default: assess with oncologist)
3. What is the patient's current performance status (ECOG/KPS)? (Default: assess)
4. What is the estimated prognosis? (Default: clinician estimate with supporting data)
5. Has the patient been informed of their prognosis? (Default: assess illness understanding)
6. What are the patient's goals of care and advance directives? (Default: assess and document)
7. Who is the patient's healthcare proxy/surrogate decision-maker? (Default: identify and document)
8. What is the patient's current symptom burden? (Default: ESAS assessment)

Documents to Request

• Advance directive and POLST/MOLST form (if completed)
• Healthcare proxy designation
• Goals of care discussion documentation
• Current symptom assessment (ESAS or equivalent)
• Prognosis documentation from treating oncologist
• Treatment history with last disease-directed therapy date
• Insurance/coverage information for hospice benefit
• Spiritual and cultural preference documentation
• Family/caregiver contact information and support assessment

Step 1: Assess Hospice Eligibility

General hospice eligibility criteria (CMS hospice benefit):

• Terminal illness with life expectancy ≤6 months if disease follows its normal course
• Patient elects palliative (comfort) care rather than curative treatment
• Certified by attending physician and hospice medical director

Cancer-specific prognostic indicators supporting ≤6 months prognosis:

Hospice does NOT require:

• That all treatment be stopped — concurrent care models and Medicare hospice benefit may overlap in certain states
• DNR status — although most hospice patients choose comfort measures, it is not required for enrollment
• That the patient will definitely die within 6 months — the certification is a clinical judgment about expected trajectory

Step 2: Conduct Goals-of-Care Conversation

SPIKES protocol for serious illness conversation:

Key questions to address in goals-of-care discussion:

1. What does the patient understand about their illness trajectory?
2. What is most important to the patient in the time remaining (being at home, pain control, being alert, time with family)?
3. What is the patient willing or unwilling to go through (hospitalizations, ICU, CPR, intubation)?
4. Where does the patient want to receive care (home, inpatient hospice, nursing facility)?
5. Has the patient completed a POLST/MOLST form reflecting current wishes?

Document who was present, what was discussed, what the patient's stated wishes are, and what decisions were made.

Step 3: Implement Comfort-Focused Care

Discontinue non-beneficial interventions:

• Stop chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy that are no longer providing benefit
• Discontinue disease-monitoring labs and imaging (tumor markers, CT scans)
• Discontinue preventive medications unlikely to benefit (statins, vitamins, osteoporosis medications)
• Continue only medications that provide symptom relief

Comfort care medication management:

Step 4: Support the Family and Coordinate Hospice Transition

Family support responsibilities:

1. Educate family on what to expect during the dying process (changes in breathing patterns, decreased consciousness, skin color changes, decreased oral intake)
2. Provide written materials on what to do when death occurs (who to call, what not to call 911 for)
3. Ensure family has 24/7 hospice contact information
4. Address caregiver burnout — assess need for respite care
5. Initiate bereavement support referral (hospice provides 13 months post-death bereavement support per Medicare benefit)

Hospice transition coordination:

1. Complete hospice referral with required documentation (diagnosis, prognosis, treatment history, current medications, advance directive)
2. Coordinate with hospice team on admission timeline (most hospice agencies can admit within 24–48 hours)
3. Ensure seamless medication transfer — hospice formulary may differ from prior prescriptions
4. Confirm hospice level of care: routine home care, continuous care (for acute symptom crisis), inpatient hospice (for symptoms unmanageable at home), respite care
5. Communicate with primary oncologist about the transition

Step 5: Document the End-of-Life Care Plan

Complete documentation includes:

1. Prognosis documentation with supporting clinical evidence
2. Goals-of-care discussion summary with date, participants, and decisions
3. Advance directive status — AD and POLST/MOLST on file and accessible
4. Code status clearly documented (DNR/DNI, comfort measures only, full code — must reflect patient's stated wishes)
5. Hospice referral with date, agency name, and level of care
6. Comfort care orders with specific medications, routes, and doses
7. Discontinued medications and interventions with rationale
8. Family communication documented including education on dying process
9. Bereavement plan for family support after death

Checkpoint B: Post-Draft Alignment (Mandatory)

1. Has hospice eligibility been assessed with documented prognostic indicators?
2. Was the goals-of-care conversation conducted using a structured approach and documented?
3. Is the advance directive current and consistent with the care plan?
4. Have non-beneficial interventions been identified and discontinued?
5. Is the family educated on what to expect and how to access hospice support?

Quality Audit

• Prognosis documented with supporting clinical indicators
• Goals-of-care discussion documented with date, participants, and outcomes
• Advance directive and POLST/MOLST on file and concordant with care plan
• Code status documented and consistent with patient's expressed wishes
• Hospice referral initiated ≥3 days before death (quality metric)
• No chemotherapy administered within 14 days of death (quality metric)
• No ICU admission within 30 days of death (quality metric)
• Comfort care medication orders complete and route-appropriate (PO/SL/SC/IV)
• Non-beneficial medications and interventions discontinued
• Family educated on the dying process with written materials
• Bereavement support referral initiated
• Spiritual care assessment and referral documented
• 24/7 hospice contact information provided to family
• Communication to all care team members documented

Guidelines

• The "surprise question" ("Would I be surprised if this patient died within 6 months?") is a validated prognostic screen — if the answer is "no," initiate hospice eligibility discussion
• Hospice referral in the last 3 days of life is a nationally recognized quality failure — aim for enrollment ≥7 days before death to enable meaningful hospice support
• Chemotherapy within 14 days of death is a quality metric tracked by CMS and ASCO — the decision to stop disease-directed therapy requires documented goals-of-care alignment
• Comfort care does not mean "doing nothing" — it means actively managing symptoms to achieve the best possible quality of life
• IV fluids in actively dying patients typically increase suffering (peripheral edema, pulmonary congestion, increased secretions) — educate families that decreased oral intake is a normal part of the dying process
• Palliative sedation for refractory symptoms at end of life is ethically distinct from euthanasia — it requires documentation of refractory symptoms, informed consent, and ethics consultation per institutional policy
• Bereavement risk assessment should be performed for all family members — screen for complicated grief risk factors (dependent relationship, history of mental illness, young children)
• Cultural and spiritual preferences regarding death and dying must be assessed and respected — do not assume preferences based on demographics