Barbara Monroe, Chief Executive of St. Christopher’s Hospice in London has been appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday 2010 Honours List. SWHPN congratulates Dame Barbara Monroe on her well-deserved achievement and on her many years of service providing quality and compassionate palliative care.

Months to Live, Palliative Care Doctor Fought for Life, New York Times, April 3, 2010.

Palliative Care Programs Continue Rapid Growth in U.S. Hospitals, CAPC, April 5, 2010.

The Pain of Losing a Spouse is Singular, Jane Brody, New York Times, April 6, 2010.

Katie Couric on How Children Mourn, CBS Sunday Morning, April 11, 2010.

SWHPN Vice Chair Gary Stein Clarifies Recent Advance Care Planning Legislation

In August 2009, SWHPN Members received a policy update from SWHPN Vice Chair Gary Stein clarifying the challenges presented by recent health care reform bills promoting advance care planning.

Legislation and reports included in this update are:

• Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009, introduced on May 21, 2009, by West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV. Click here to review the bill online. The SWHPN Executive Committee has sent a letter of endorsement to Senators Rockefeller and Susan Collins of Maine and other senators co-sponsoring this bill.
• The Senior Navigation and Planning Act, introduced by Sen. Mark Warner. Click here to review online.
• The House “Tri Committee” Bill. Click here to review online.
• Advance Directives and Advance Care Planning: Report to Congress. Click here to review online.

This policy update can serve as a guide for our members to better understand the recent political discussions on health care reform and how these proposed bills can affect social workers in hospice and palliative care.

Please review this policy update and the endorsement letter to the Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009 on the new Legislative Review section of the Member Dashboard. Forgot your SWHPN password? Click here. You may also print or copy the endorsement letter and send it to the bill co-sponsors and/or your senator or representative.

We encourage members to get involved in the discussion on the SWHPN online community. Log on to LinkHealthPro. Forgot your LinkHealthPro password? Click here.

The Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009 was introduced on May 21, 2009, by West Virginia Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV. The SWHPN Executive Committee has sent a letter of endorsement to Senator Rockefeller and the bill’s cosponsors.

In the letter, SWHPN suggests wording that incorporates social workers in palliative care teams and health care providers involved in advance care planning and advance directives decisions. Specifically, SWHPN is advocating for social workers to be eligible for the professional education and reimbursement opportunities proposed in this bill.

These amendments would include social workers in the a workforce promotion program as critical providers of psychosocial supports for patients and authorize the National Center on Palliative and End-of-Life Care to promote research on psychosocial care.

SWHPN also suggests that social workers be eligible to receive reimbursement for advance care planning conversations with patients, required to receive continuing education on end-of-life care and advance care planning, and be added to the team of providers offering long-distance, or telemedicine, services for patients and communities lacking access to skilled care.

SWHPN Members can review this letter and join the discussion on the SWHPN online community.

On June 22, 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released Advance Directives and Advance Care Planning: Report to Congress. Compiled by experts in end-of-life care, including SWHPN Board Members Judy Peres and Gary Stein, the report summarizes findings from a multidimensional effort and reflects varied perspectives on advance directives and advance care planning, including those of individuals with disabilities and other nationwide stakeholders.

Advance care planning and the use of advance directives provide mechanisms for ensuring individual autonomy at the end of life. Three key findings of the study are:

• Effective advance care planning is an ongoing process best accomplished through continuing communication among individuals, clinicians and family members.
• Interventions for advance care planning can be carried out successfully; replication and implementation via health information technology hold promise for improving care toward the end of life.
• Advance care planning must shift from a focus on formal written advance directive forms to a developmental discussion process.  Specific attention could be given to models such as the POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) program paradigm.

Full report [PDF]

SWHPN has signed on to the ‘Joint Declaration & Statement of Commitment‘ issued by the International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care, the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance, and other organizations around the world. This is the first ‘Joint Declaration’ ever to be developed and signed by leading international organizations in palliative care, hospice, pain, cancer, HIV/AIDS and other fields. Read the full story.

Palliative care for non-malignant disease has been voted the area of health care in which doctors can make the greatest difference to patient care, said the BMJ today. Over the last 14 days, more than 4,000 people from around the world have voted in the BMJ’s Making a Difference poll to find the area of health care in which doctors can make the most improvement to the quality of patient care.
View the full poll results here.