Healthcare Reform Resolution Issued By National Hospice And Palliative Care Organization

Main Category: Palliative Care / Hospice Care
Article Date: 02 May 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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With the healthcare reform debate picking up pace in all corners of the country, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's board of directors issued a Healthcare Reform Resolution on April 21 that calls attention to critical factors which legislators, regulators, policy experts, and the administration should consider in U.S. healthcare reform proposals.

Healthcare reform was the theme running through many of the activities at NHPCO's 24th Management and Leadership Conference, held April 23-25 in Washington, DC. Punctuating the three-day event were special remarks by Nancy- Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform, during the general plenary on April 24.

As discussions continue -- with increasing input from a diverse group of stakeholders -- it will become all that more important to reinforce the valuable role of end-of-life care in meeting the needs of Americans in a responsible and cost-effective way.

Key issues that are included in NHPCO's Healthcare Reform Resolution include:

-- Elimination of barriers that prevent timely access to high quality end-of-life care;

-- Recognition of the measurable quality inherent in the hospice model of care delivery;

-- Adoption of a broader hospice and palliative care model that fosters a seamless continuum of coordinated care across all care settings;

-- Application of evidence-based standards;

-- Timely referral of appropriate patients to prevent issues arising from late admissions;

-- Creation of a framework for enhanced educational and training opportunities to facilitate increased access to palliative care services;

-- Recognition of the support that hospices provide to family caregivers;

-- Development of comprehensive data collection initiatives that build on existing efforts;

-- Adoption of reimbursement levels that accurately reflect the increasing complexity of patient needs; and

-- Establishment of a payment review that adequately supports the provision of service to all appropriate patients.

"NHPCO is committed to preserving and expanding high quality end-of-life services, making sure that future patients and families can access, in all service settings, the high.quality care that hospice and palliative care have come to symbolize," Schumacher stated.

Source: National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

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