On how increasing numbers of newer cancer therapies further delay referral to hospice: the increasing palliative care imperative.

Delay in referral of cancer patients to hospice until very near the end of life may deny patients and families optimal palliative care. A variety of factors may contribute to these delays. This article describes how the proliferation of newer anticancer therapies, although desirable overall, may further increase these delays. It is important for hospice personnel to understand these changes in medical oncology and to work to optimize palliative care delivery concomitantly with disease-remitting therapies.