NASEM: Improving Access to and Equity of Care for People with Serious Illness: A Workshop

nasem access 2.jpg

On April 4, 2019, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness hosted a public workshop, Improving Access to and Equity of Care for People with Serious Illness.

The workshop featured invited presentations and panel discussions on:

  • Barriers that impede access to care for serious illness (e.g., advance care planning, palliative care, and hospice) among vulnerable populations and strategies to address those barriers 

  • Strategies to build trust and effectively engage patients, families, and caregivers in diverse cultural, ethnic, racial and socioeconomic environments, in order to communicate with patients and families in a culturally competent manner regarding expectations and values related to end-of-life care, and to ensure that treatment is aligned with preferences

  • Approaches to enhancing the diversity of the workforce providing care to people with serious illness

  • Models of care delivery that currently serve vulnerable populations with serious illness, including public-private partnerships and community-level interventions such as use of community health coaches for peer-to-peer interventions, and partnering with faith-based organizations

  • Research gaps and key questions for further research

  • The workshop presentations can be viewed here

Supportive Care Coalition