Clinical trial · Interventional
Removing Transfusion Dependence as a Barrier to Hospice Enrollment
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Hospice care at the end of life (EOL) includes a multidisciplinary team that helps patients and families focus on symptom control and quality of life. For patients with "solid" (e.g. lung, breast) cancers it has been shown to improve quality of life for both patients and families. Unfortunately, patients with blood cancers (e.g. leukemia, lymphoma) often delay their enrollment and receive more aggressive care at the EOL. One factor in this delay is the inability for patients to receive blood transfusions while on hospice. Patients with blood cancers often require frequent blood transfusions near the EOL for symptom control. The structure of Medicare hospice benefit makes coverage for transfusions financially unfeasible for hospice agencies, and therefore patients with blood cancers will delay enrollment onto hospice in order to continue to receive blood transfusions. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether removing this financial burden, through external funding of blood transfusions for patients while on hospice, will encourage patients with blood cancers to enroll on hospice earlier and ultimately improve their and their caregivers EOL care.
Conditions
Conditions (6)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acute Myeloid Leukemia | Acute Myeloid Leukemia | CURATED_BROADER | 0.80 |
| Hematologic Malignancy | Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Cell Neoplasm | ALIAS | 0.90 |
| Leukemia | Leukemia | ONTOLOGY_EXACT | 0.90 |
| Lymphoma | Lymphoma | ONTOLOGY_EXACT | 0.90 |
| Myelodysplastic Syndromes | Myelodysplastic Syndrome | ALIAS | 0.90 |
| Myeloma | Multiple Myeloma | ALIAS | 0.90 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfusion support | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (1)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Intervention arm
- description
- Patients with aggressive hematologic malignancies who are hospice eligible, not pursuing further cancer directed therapy, and whose primary hematologist is planning to initiate a conversation regarding transition to hospice will be eligible for enrollment.
- interventionNames
- Other: Transfusion support
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Proportion of Eligible Patients Choosing to Participate in the Care Model Under Study Rather Than Standard of Care.
- timeFrame
- Through study completion, on average 2 years
- description
- Measured as: the number of eligible patients approached and number who elect to enter the study and participate in the novel care model rather than through the traditional hospice care model.
Secondary outcomes (4)
- measure
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Aged 18 and older * Advanced hematologic malignancies * Hospice eligible as determined by their primary hematologist * Have opted to forego further cancer-directed therapy. * Transfusion Dependent: Requiring at least 2 units of blood products Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with major psychiatric illness * Patients without the ability to speak and read English
References
Publications (0)
Data not yet available