Palliative Care Blog

National Institute of Nursing Research Official to Speak at Symposium

The CSU Institute for Palliative Care is thrilled to announce that Jeri L. Miller, PhD, MS, MSc, has joined the list of plenary speakers at this year’s National Symposium for Academic Palliative Care Education and Research, Oct. 11-12, in San Diego.

Dr. Miller is the Chief of the Office of End-of-Life and Palliative Care Research (OEPCR) at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The OEPCR coordinates and supports ongoing NINR and NIH research efforts in end-of-life and palliative care (EOL PC) science, including:

• Stimulation of end-of-life and palliative care research initiatives;
• Creation of opportunities for collaborative activities;
• Facilitation of interdisciplinary EOL PC science; and,
• Identify opportunities for science to inform policy and practice.

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CHCF Brief Highlights Progress in Access to Palliative Care

Californians’ access to specialty palliative care has improved dramatically over the past several years, but challenges remain in scaling and sustaining smaller programs, standardizing scope of care, and educating patients and providers, according to an issue brief released this week by the California Health Care Foundation.

“Palliative Care in California: Narrowing the Gap,” first published by CHCF in 2014, has been updated with 2017 data that reflects strides in the accessibility of inpatient and community-based palliative care throughout the state. The brief includes interactive maps illustrating the need for palliative care by specific region, as well as how palliative care services are offered, and how capacity compares to need.

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Renewing a Call for Comprehensive, Universally Available Palliative Care

Need to Better Support Patients with Serious Illness is Stronger than Ever

By Jennifer Moore Ballentine

May was hardly a slow news month—volcanic eruptions in Hawaii, North Korean diplomatic back-and-forths, the royal wedding, another tragic school shooting—so you can be forgiven for not noticing that California’s End of Life Option Act was overturned. The Riverside County Superior Court decision was immediately appealed, but a stay was not granted.

For now, while the appeals process plays out, the law offering a legal process for physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of medications for terminally ill, competent patients has been ruled unconstitutional and void. Needless to say, this has created a new turmoil in the palliative and end-of-life care environment here in our home state. While the specifics are local, the issues are national.

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Summit: Progress in Care for Seriously Ill, but More Work Ahead

California leads Nation in Palliative Care Policy, Accessibility and Practice

By Melanie Marshall

SACRAMENTO—California has made considerable progress in improving care for seriously ill patients and families, but much more must be done to meet the needs of our rapidly aging population, said healthcare providers, educators and advocates during a policy summit this week hosted by the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.

The most pressing challenges, summit participants said, include educating and growing the palliative care workforce to meet increasing demand; aligning models of care delivery and payment; improving clinician and patient understanding about palliative care; expanding the evidence base through new research; and addressing social determinants and the complex needs of vulnerable patient populations who disproportionately impact healthcare costs.

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