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Removing Transfusion Dependence as a Barrier to Hospice Enrollment

NCT05063591 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 18

Last updated 2026-01-15

Study results available
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Summary

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

Interventions

OTHER

Transfusion support

Patients will be offered symptom-driven transfusion support in addition to standard hospice care

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Adam Olszewski

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Pamela C Egan, MD · Rhode Island Hospital

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-07-09
Primary Completion
2023-12-31
Completion
2023-12-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05063591 on ClinicalTrials.gov