This is archived content, for historical reference only.

Palliative care provides a better experience for patients and families by reducing symptom distress, which can lead to longer survival and better quality of life. These benefits enable patients to focus on what matters most to them and as a corollary often lead to reduced use of acute interventions and costly hospitalizations. To improve access to this high-value care, payers, providers, and communities are collaborating to find new ways to deliver and finance palliative care.

The Center to Advance Palliative Care and the National Business Group on Health, with support from CHCF, have published a palliative care toolkit and resource guide, which highlights examples and best practices of provider-payer partnerships that lead to better access to palliative care. This guide is intended to be used by organizations that are responsible for financing health care, including commercial insurance carriers, self-funded employers, and federal and state government agencies, as well as for providers working in shared risk arrangements.

The toolkit:

• Defines palliative care and demonstrates its importance to improving value
• Identifies opportunities to integrate palliative care into payer programs and products
• Provides tools and resources to payers, employers, and providers, including palliative care quality standards, best practices, community partners, and checklists to support these opportunities and actions within payer organizations
• Demonstrates what payers are doing to advance palliative care through profiles and case examples

The case profiles, tools, and delivery models detailed in the toolkit were drawn from extensive interviews with payer organizations and clinical leaders. The toolkit is available at the Center to Advance Palliative Care website through the External Link below.