My mom is moaning along and I don't know what it could be. I have tried heating pad on her hip.

Did she have an incident that might have been the cause, like a fall or even a hard bump against her hip? Your profile says she has osteoporosis so it wouldn't take much to injure her. Is she home alone at any point of the day or night?

Has she had it imaged?

My 100-yr old Aunt with advanced dementia needed assistance to walk. One night out of the clear blue sky she decided to shimmy past her bed barriers to walk somewhere. She fell on her carpeted floor and broke her hip high up by the ball. Outside of surgery (which I declined) there was no fix for this.

I agree that if she isn't an appropriate candidate for diagnosis and further therapies then hospice and palliative care may be the next best option for her.

Time to discuss this with your mom's doctors. Is she on hospice? She is apparently non verbal for any discussion of pain. This has to be tough when all communication tools are down. I can assure you that there are a lot of sort of automatic verbalizations that have little to do with anything at all. And I do know that, being in my 80s, the sort of burnie arthritic pain can "be there" when in a limb is in the same position for some time. That sort of pain isn't overwhelming, but is "there". Can imagine clutching my knee were I non verbal.

Speak with the doctor about what you are observing. This may be a matter of doing the best you can. Be careful of heating pads as elders burn very easily and as a nurse I saw any number of minor burns from them.