Dell Children's Medical Center Ends Austin Pediatric Hospice Home Program
The closure leaves Central Texas without a dedicated provider for in-home care for dying children, shifting services to an outpatient clinic.
By Nikolai Patterson ·
Dell Children's Medical Center is closing its in-home pediatric hospice program on Friday, ending four years of home-based care for dying children in Austin.
The hospital stated the program is moving to an outpatient clinic setting. Future care will be delivered through the Comprehensive Care Clinic, which serves children with complex diagnoses. Dell Children's said complex care referrals are already underway and that individualized transition plans have been created for each child to support continuous care.
This decision leaves Central Texas without a pediatric hospice provider offering in-home services. Shannon McLennan, a mother from Leander, learned the news two weeks ago regarding her daughter Oli. McLennan, a nurse who previously worked at Dell Children's, said she was not given a specific transition plan for Oli. She was told the decision related to hospice certification with Medicaid, which is required for reimbursement in Texas.
Oli is 19, suffers from a gene deletion affecting her sight, and is in intestinal failure. She has received hospice care from Dell Children's since March. Because of her age, she can transition to Hospice Austin, a program designed for adults. McLennan expressed frustration on Instagram, noting that the pediatric population in Austin lacks a dedicated option. "I can't even get my daughter in a car," McLennan said, describing the difficulty of transporting a dying child to a clinic.
Dell Children's has not publicly explained why it closed the at-home program, despite questions about staffing, certification, or funding. The program launched in 2022 under Dr. Patrick Jones, a neonatologist who joined from Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston. Jones left Dell Children's in March to work for a neonatology group covering neonatal intensive care units at Ascension Texas hospitals. Dr. Tyler Badding took over the hospice and palliative care role but is now listed only in the hospital's palliative care program.
A 2025 report by the National Alliance for Care at Home identified staffing as the primary barrier to pediatric hospice care. The report found a shortage of trained pediatric doctors and nurses and noted that not enough physicians refer eligible patients. Costs and reimbursements played a larger role in 2025 than in previous reports. Sixty-one percent of children needing hospice or palliative care are covered by Medicaid, which often offers lower reimbursement rates than private insurance or Medicare.
Hospice Austin, a nonprofit that previously partnered with Dell Children's, does not currently have a pediatrician on staff. The organization said it is discussing how to support the community's needs for additional pediatric services. Texas Children's Hospital and St. David's Children's Hospital, both with locations in Austin, do not have hospice programs. Melissa Keller, whose daughter Abbey died in 2019, said her family was one of the few to benefit from the previous partnership between Dell Children's and Hospice Austin. The Abigail E. Keller Foundation is raising $6 million to build Abbey House, a pediatric palliative care and hospice center in Texas.
