"Palliative care suffers from an identity problem." That's the first line of an important article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) today. In all of ACS CAN's work on the issue of palliative care, we've come to know too well that palliative care is misunderstood. Individuals often mistake palliative care for end-of-life care, or more frequently, don't recognize the term palliative care at all. But, we also know that once people understand what palliative care is and how it can help them and their family, they overwhelmingly support it. There is a significant amount of existing research on how beneficial palliative care is for patients with advanced cancer and their families. This NEJM article gathers that research in one place, making the clinical, economic and political cases for providing palliative care at the time of diagnosis. Here is some of the evidence the authors cite:
In a tight budget environment in Washington, the authors make an important point about the appeal to lawmakers of providing palliative care as a win-win from both a health and economic perspective: Providing palliative care at early stages meets the important aims of better health and improved care, all at lower cost. It's no surprise we're seeing growing bipartisan support for two pieces of legislation introduced in Congress earlier this year that would improve access to palliative care services. If passed, together these bills would establish workforce training incentives so more health care professionals are trained to administer palliative care, convene a summit to focus national attention on the issue and expand necessary research (like the studies described above) to establish an even stronger science base for palliative care. Since our Leadership Summit & Lobby Day in September, ACS CAN volunteers have been extremely successful at getting lawmakers from across the country to sign on and support these bills. You too can help us work to solve the palliative care identity crisis and make sure all people with serious illnesses and their families have access to palliative care when and where they need it by contacting your members of Congress today and asking for their support.
We’re proud to join the cancer community this September in recognition of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and will continue to focus our advocacy efforts year-round to improve the diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for childhood cancer patients and survivors.