Americans need better end-of-life care. According to a new report from the Institute of Medicine, Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life, Americans need end-of-life care that's patient centered, family oriented, and evidence based. Improving hospice and palliative services is key to achieving this goal, and more trained hospice and palliative care specialists are needed. Improvements in end-of-life services-such as nutrition consultation, services provided by paid caregivers, and home safety modifications-can pay for themselves, write the authors, because of the savings realized through the elimination of unwanted or unnecessary acute care services, for instance, or unnecessary ED visits. The report also asserts that Medicare and Medicaid must change to allow patients to receive high-quality care at home. Read the report at http://bit.ly/1v6JKMp.