Palliative care lacks a standardized definition within current value-based reimbursement systems, making it difficult to determine the full scope of services for seriously ill patients. Palliative care services are intended to address physical, psychosocial, social and spiritual needs of seriously ill individuals. However, the full breadth of interdisciplinary services involved in palliative care has yet […]

A New Jersey state bill that would establish community-based palliative care coverage is advancing in the state’s legislature. The engine behind the bill has been advocacy work by the Goals of Care Coalition of NJ (GOCCNJ), whose lobbying efforts moved state Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, chair of the Assembly Aging & Senior Services Committee, to introduce […]

More cancer patients have been receiving palliative care since the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid. About 18.9% of eligible patients received palliative care in states that expanded Medicaid, up from 17% before the ACA provisions took effect on Jan. 1, 2014, according to American Cancer Society research recently published in Health Affairs. Among non-expansion states, […]

Evolving demographic and economic forces have placed palliative care among the nation’s fastest growing health care sectors. Interest in the palliative care market has spiked in recent years, partly due to the value proposition these services offer to patients, families, providers and payers alike, according to Fred Bentley, managing director at health care consulting firm […]

Wide variation exists in the ways palliative care is delivered, but Penn Medicine is launching an extensive research project to determine best practices in the hospital setting. A central question in the controlled randomized trial is whether patients would benefit more from expanded access to specialty palliative care versus care from generalists who receive a […]

Pre-operative palliative care consultations for patients undergoing major cancer surgery are unwarranted, new evidence suggests. A recent randomized controlled trial did not support routine integration of specialty palliative care in those cases. Researchers found that the physical and functional quality of life at 90 days was essentially the same for patients who received those consults […]

Palliative care providers have a limited window into the disparities plaguing underserved populations when it comes to access and awareness of their serious illness care options, according to Nicole McCann-Davis, vice president of communications and chief health equity officer at Empassion Health. Palliative Care News recently sat down with McCann-Davis to discuss the scope of […]

The Kidney Care Choices (KCC) model is among the reimbursement streams that is widening payment for palliative care services. It could also help improve utilization of serious illness and end-of-life care. Patients with chronic kidney disease can often receive fragmented care and expensive treatments. They also receive limited to no education about their health trajectories, […]

Strains on reimbursement, referrals and staffing represent the biggest obstacles to palliative care providers’ viability and growth. It takes time to build up the payment, referral and workforce resources needed to support a sustainable palliative care program, according to Dr. Stephen Goldfine, chief medical officer at Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice. The New Jersey-based nonprofit offers […]

Prevalent care models for neurological illnesses could be improved by more extensive integration of palliative care, recent research has found. A team of international researchers reviewed prior studies of care models for treating Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, dementia and other neurological diseases. They found that the development of an evidence-based framework for early and ongoing […]