H.R. 10013 — Compassionate Care Act

This section expresses the sense of the Senate that advance care planning should occur with the patient and the patient’s health care agent, primary clinician, other authorized decisionmaker, or interdisciplinary health care team; be recorded and updated as needed; and allow flexible decisionmaking in accordance with best practice guidelines issued by the Secretary.

This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the CDC Director, to develop and implement by January 1, 2027, a national public education campaign on advance care planning and individuals’ rights to direct health care decisions. The campaign must use various media, provide culturally and linguistically appropriate information, run continuously for at least five years, promote specific federal websites, address family and provider discussions and advance directives, raise awareness of hospice and palliative care, and adhere to evidence-based methods. It requires a report to Congress by July 1, 2029, on effectiveness and recommendations, authorizes necessary appropriations, and repeals section 4751(d) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.

This section establishes, by January 1, 2028, a public website for providers under Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, the Indian Health Service (including contract providers), and other qualified providers serving older individuals under the Older Americans Act of 1965. The site must include tools and resources to inform providers and certified chaplains about advance directive requirements and related laws, support integration of advance care planning documents into electronic health records, develop patient materials, promote continuing education and discussions with patients of all ages, and explain end-of-life services including palliative care and hospice.

This section establishes a pilot grant program for eligible entities—including schools of medicine, nursing, social work, physician assistant programs, and graduate medical education programs—to incorporate end-of-life care training requirements into their degree programs. Entities must maintain faculty experienced in palliative medicine, offer rotations across hospice, home health, and other settings, develop competency measures, provide at least six months of longitudinal training in accredited graduate programs, and complete faculty retraining within two years; grantees report outcomes to the Secretary, who compiles results for Congress.

This section directs the Secretary, through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and in consultation with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to develop patient-oriented end-of-life care quality measures for each relevant provider setting. It requires dissemination of reporting requirements by January 1, 2027, followed by a 60-day public comment period, and initial provider reporting beginning January 1, 2029, with measures incorporating demographic data on race, ethnicity, age, and gender while accounting for administrative burden.

This section directs the Secretary, acting through the Health Resources and Services Administration, to develop or enhance curricula on advance care planning and end-of-life care by January 1, 2027, for states to adopt in continuing education for qualified health care providers. The curricula must address advance care planning documents and their use, orders for scope of treatment, counseling skills for patient discussions, palliative care principles, the continuum of end-of-life services including hospice, and the benefits of introducing such care early in illness.

This section permanently authorizes the use of telehealth to conduct the required face-to-face encounter prior to recertification of eligibility for hospice care under section 1814(a)(7) of the Social Security Act. It removes the prior expiration at the end of March 31, 2025.

This section removes geographic requirements for Medicare telehealth coverage of advance care planning services furnished on or after January 1, 2027.