Care at the End of Life

Caring Connections, a program of the U.S. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), seeks to improve care at the end of life. Caring Connections provides free resources, including educational brochures, advance directives and hospice information, and a toll-free help line for people looking for quality end-of-life information.

Nursing Home Compare is a website with information about every Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country. The site allows you to search for nursing homes by name, city, county, state, or ZIP code. It also allows you to compare the quality of nursing homes using a five-star rating. The site also has information on alternatives to nursing homes, such as home care or assisted living.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CMS administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CMS also has other responsibilities, such as overseeing the health insurance portability standards, which include the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and ensuring quality care standards in long-term care facilities and clinical laboratories.

This organization supports and assists people who are providing long-term care at home. It also provides education, research, services, and advocacy.

Resources are available at this website for people who are caregivers and for those who are personally facing terminal illness, death, and grief. There are also programs for health professionals who work with people at the end of life.

From links on this website, you can locate a hospice and view a list of other organizations. Also, you can read a hospice and caregiving blog, an e-newsletter, and frequently asked questions. You can use a link called "Share Your Story" to post your own story for other website visitors to read.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the centers of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. The NIA funds research and provides information about health and research advances to the public and interested groups.