Nursing Homes Seen as “Greatest Opportunity” for Palliative Care Innovation

March 25, 2016 | Aging Services Risk Management

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Nursing homes are the "greatest opportunity for innovative, effective palliative care," said Diane Meier, MD, FACP, director of the national Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), speaking at the AMDA's (The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine) 2016 annual conference. Quoted in the March 2016 Caring for the Ages, Meier emphasized that "the great majority of older and seriously ill patients in need of palliative care services—attention to pain and symptoms, expert communication about what to expect and what matters most to patients in that context, and reliable continuity and coordination of care over time and across settings—aren't in the hospital." Most importantly, she said, providers and patients alike need to be educated that palliative care is not limited to end-of-life care, and providers in particular need training in how to have conversations with older adults about palliative care options.

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