Develop a Plan

This section of the toolkit outlines seven essential elements to consider when constructing a robust palliative care strategy.

Once organizational buy-in for investing in palliative care is secured, the next step involves assessing your current state and then developing a comprehensive strategy and implementation plan that leverages your existing position. This section outlines seven essential elements to consider when constructing a robust palliative care strategy. These elements draw from insights gained through palliative care projects supported by the California Health Care Foundation over the past decade, including in-depth interviews with leaders as part of the resource titled “California’s Palliative Care Evolution: Celebrating Progress and Shaping the Future”.

Next Steps

Within this section of the toolkit, specific action items for each of the seven elements are detailed based on your plan's current state.

These actions are cumulative. Following the actions, you’ll find links to resources designed to accelerate learning and implementation efforts.

THE ESSENTIALS

For those starting out.

PROGRESSING FURTHER

For those that have the basics covered.

SETTING THE STANDARD

For those who are ready to build cutting-edge programs and contribute to strengthening the broader field of palliative care.

Payment

Adopt a bundled payment model for home-based and outpatient palliative care.

Learn More

1

Quality

Adopt policies and practices that adhere to minimum standards and improve quality of care.

Learn More

2 Integration

Integrate palliative care across all lines of business, in all settings, and with other medical and social services frequently used by people with serious illness.

Learn More

3 Uptake

Increase utilization of palliative care.

Learn More

4 Equity

Ensure palliative care reaches and meets the needs of communities of color and other historically marginalized populations.

Learn More

5 Workforce Capacity

Increase the number of clinicians with generalist palliative care skills and encourage use of generalist palliative care when specialty palliative care is not needed.

Learn More

6 Family Caregiver Support

Assess the needs of family caregivers and provide them with training and resources to support the care needs of seriously ill members.

Learn More

7

The information is specifically tailored for internal champions at health plans seeking to expand or optimize their palliative care program. For plans without an existing palliative care program, additional resources can be found in Appendix Two.