In 2012, 1.6 million Americans received hospice care; 36 percent died or were discharged within seven days of admission.

New findings published in the annual hospice facts and figures report show nearly 80 percent of hospice patients receive care for less than 90 days before dying. The median length of a hospice stay is only about 19 days, and the findings are both consistent with those of 2011 and troubling to study researchers.

The report, “Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America,” was conducted by National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. It provides data on hospice trends and updated information on the growth, delivery and quality of hospice care throughout the U.S.

“As hospice and palliative care professionals, we need to continue reaching out to patients and family caregivers to help them understand all the benefits that hospice care brings,” said NHPCO President and CEO J. Donald Schumacher, Psy.D in a press release. “As part of our ongoing engagement efforts, we must continue our efforts to reach communities that are under-utilizing hospice care.”

Hospice is care that aims to provide comfort and pain management rather than aggressive treatments– usually only for terminally ill patients with six months or less to live. It is most often used when curative treatments are no longer effective. Cancer remains the most common diagnosis for patients seeking hospice; 37 percent of enrollees are cancer patients.

Sixty-six percent of patients who receive hospice benefits remain in the place they call home, whether it be a private residence or nursing home, unchanged from 2011. The gender divide between hospice patients also remains unchanged; 56 percent of hospice patients are female.

Since the founding of the first American hospice in 1974, more than five thousand hospice programs have opened throughout the U.S. The Medicare hospice benefit, enacted by Congress in 1982, remains the predominant source of payment. Eighty-four percent of patients receive coverage through the benefit.