Policy Advocacy Framework
C-TAC’s ultimate policy objective is to improve the quality of life of people with advanced illness and their families and caregivers.
We will achieve this objective by working with Coalition members and others who share a similar vision to promote and implement public and private policies to foster the creation and expansion of scalable, person- and family-centered health care delivery models that are: fiscally sustainable, provide comprehensive, supportive, and palliative care across the care continuum, and support consumer-informed choices according to individualized, personal plans of care.
Our vision is that informed choice, supportive care, and care management for advanced illness becomes an established standard of care and that the variety of needs of the patient as a person, including spiritual, are addressed. The following policy components are essential to ensure the highest quality of care:
- Individual care planning including counseling, discussion of choices, psychosocial support, pain relief and support of family and caregivers. This requires trained professionals familiar with these needs and the formalization of processes incorporating physicians, nurses, social workers and others with the expertise to best support individuals with advanced illness and their families;
- Consumer and family caregiver education, information and support including the creation and promotion of publicly available resources; personnel to help individuals with advanced illness and their families and caregivers navigate the health system with more independence, confidence, and comfort; as well as access to the vital long-term social services and supports available in the community to support patients, families, and caregivers across the care continuum;
- Quality standards including mechanisms and protocols ensuring adherence to accepted clinical, social and other practices to deliver high-quality advanced illness care and support as a nationally accepted standard of care;
- Professional education including development of protocols, training programs, and re-training support systems to promote a health care workforce with the clinical and social skills and competencies to appropriately care for people with advanced illness and to support families and caregivers;
- Payment mechanisms including modifications to existing payment models and incentives to expand options for care coordination, care transitions, and care management services that focus on the support of individuals, families, and caregivers. This requires the integration of current clinical and long-term services and supports for people with advanced illness, as well as the inclusion of new best clinical and social practices, that are often omitted from care regimens due to lack of knowledge or oversight;
- Health and health information technology including developing standards, protocols, and incentives to ensure a modern, quality, efficient delivery system for individuals with advanced illness across settings and providers in order to improve communication among providers, individuals, emergency, inpatient, home and community-based services and family caregivers and to ensure more efficient integration between “silos” of services; and
- Research to improve care delivery practices and clinical standards for individuals with advanced illness.
Read more about The Challenges and Solutions to Effect Positive Policy Change.
For more information about C-TAC’s Policy Advocacy initiative and Workgroup, please contact Kevin Kappel at [email protected].
