The Wisconsin State Assembly has approved a bill requiring the state’s Department of Health Services (DHS) to create a statewide palliative care council.
A group of 22 palliative clinical professionals, patients and family members would comprise the council to help address care delivery issues and raise awareness in the field. The council would also include legislators and insurance company representatives with expertise in palliative care.
The Wisconsin State assembly is the state’s version of the House of Representatives. It now goes to the state Senate, where it has hit obstacles in the past.
“We’ve been at this effort for a few years with the state Senate always being our stumbling block,” Lynne Sexten, CEO of the Wisconsin-based hospice and palliative care provider Agrace, told Hospice News in an email. “We feel a Palliative Care Council would be highly valuable to the Wisconsinites by increasing awareness, bringing better access to rural communities, particularly to community-based palliative care and modernizing the state’s definition of palliative care.”
Sexten is also chair of the Wisconsin Hospice & Palliative Care Association.
In addition to establishing a council, the bill would also require DHS to create a statewide palliative care consumer and professional information and education program to help dispel myths about palliative care and improve public understanding of those services.
If established, the council would perform an outcome evaluation of established palliative care programs in the state and examine the economic and quality efficacy of palliative care provided alongside curative treatments. It would also consider mechanisms for and adequacy of reimbursement for palliative care services and other related issues.
“Access to palliative care varies widely across our state,” Sexten said in a statement. “In particular, over half of rural hospitals do not provide any type of palliative care specialists. Home and clinic-based palliative care is also available in Wisconsin, but it is extremely limited.”
