BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The goal of this update in hospice and palliative care is to summarize and critique research published between January 1 and December 31, 2014 that has a high potential for impact on clinical practice. DESIGN: To identify articles we hand searched 22 leading journals, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Fast Article Critical Summaries for Clinicians in Palliative Care. We also performed a PubMed keyword search using the terms "hospice" and "palliative care." MEASUREMENTS: We ranked candidate articles based on study quality, appeal to a breadth of palliative care clinicians, and potential for impact on clinical practice. RESULTS: In this manuscript we have summarized the findings of eight articles with the highest ratings and make recommendations for clinical practice based on the strength of the resulting evidence.