Hospice agencies care for one of our most vulnerable populations, generally for those with terminal illnesses and/or life expectancy of 6 months or less. Care is focused on comfort rather than cure, a holistic approach to end-of-life care that manages symptoms and supports patients and their families emotionally, socially and spiritually.

Unlike other healthcare sectors, hospice does not have a system in place to track quality of care. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) establishes into law that hospice agencies are to provide the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with quality measure reporting for 2014. The PPACA further links quality with payment to enhance program oversight with the implementation of the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP).

This study focuses on the tools used to measure pain and characteristics of hospice patients who reported pain and analyze the pain measure between patients with cancer and non-cancer related diagnoses using the 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS).