Improving Care of People with Serious Medical Illness: An Economic Research Agenda for Palliative Care

Abstract

Too often, people facing serious illnesses do not get the care and support they—and their families and caregivers—need and want. Palliative care, an approach designed to improve the quality of life of patients with serious illness and their families, can help close the gap between the care people want and the care they actually receive. Palliative care “attends to the physical, functional, psychological, practical, and spiritual consequences of a serious illness." As such, palliative care centers on pain and other symptom management, care coordination and planning, and assessment and support of caregiver needs.