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The difficulty of estimating life expectancy in patients with advanced dementia complicates decision making for hospice placement. In a prospective cohort study, researchers predicted 6-month mortality rates for 606 Massachusetts nursing home residents according to two tools: (1) the Advanced Dementia Prognostic Tool (ADEPT), a structured clinical assessment that incorporates 12 factors such as age, pressure ulcers, incontinence, and recent weight loss (score range, 1.0–32.5; higher scores predict shorter survival); and (2) hospice eligibility determination using the minimum data set (MDS) collected for all nursing home patients. To meet Medicare hospice eligibility requirements, patients must be nonambulatory, incontinent, and unable to sp…