Latinos and End-of-Life Care and Decision Making

This session will provide an overview of the literature as it pertains to barriers to hospice and how to increase hospice utilization by Latinos, the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. Over the coming decades this demographic fact, combined with the aging Latino population, will create an increased need to develop end-of-life services for this group. This need will require the allocation of additional resources. The benefits, however, will outweigh the costs as Latinos increasingly help shape the country’s future and represent billions in purchasing power annually. Nationwide, only 4 percent of hospice patients are from a Latino background. Latinos are the most unlikely to use hospice services of any other ethnic group, although evidence suggests their need for services may actually be greater than others.