National Task Force Challenges Managed Care Organizations to Improve Care for the Terminally Ill

WASHINGTON, DC | May 13, 1999 - A national task force issued a call today to managed care organizations to improve the care of dying patients.
In its new report, Meeting the Challenge: Twelve Recommendations for Improving End-Of-Life Care in Managed Care, the Task Force urges action in three areas: improving access to humane and effective end-of-life care; strengthening accountability on the part of plans and providers; and developing and evaluating payment methods that will properly compensate plans and providers for the costs of caring for gravely ill patients without compromising access or quality.

Specifically, the Task Force recommends that managed care organizations:

• Provide a wide range of managed care insurance products that cover end-of-life care for patients and their families.
• Create specific programs for patients dying of chronic, degenerative conditions, and ensure that these programs consider the needs of families as well as patients.
• Focus their continuous quality improvement efforts on the clinical aspects of end-of-life care, instead of deploying those resources primarily to improve administrative efficiency.
• Take pro-active steps to enhance the palliative care knowledge and skills of their medical and nursing leadership and social work staff.

To achieve these goals, the report calls for concerted action among managed care leaders, employers and other purchasers, as well as policy makers and researchers.

Source: EDC.org