“Palliative care”
means patient- and family???centered medical care that optimizes quality of life
by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering caused by serious illness.
Palliative care throughout the continuum of illness involves addressing
physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs and facilitating patient
autonomy, access to information, and choice.
Palliative care includes, but is not limited to, discussions of the
patient’s goals for treatment; discussion of treatment options appropriate to
the patient, including, where appropriate, hospice care; and comprehensive pain
and symptom management.
Purpose: To improve quality and delivery of patient
centered and family focused care in Rhode Island by establishing a State
Advisory Council on Palliative Care and Quality of Life, a palliative care
consumer and professional information and education program, and a palliative
care access initiative in Rhode Island.
- 1.
State Palliative Care and Quality of Life
Interdisciplinary Advisory Council
Council shall consult with and advise the
Department of Health on matters related to the establishment, maintenance,
operation, and outcomes evaluation of palliative care initiatives in the state
- 2.
Establish - Palliative Care Consumer and
Professional Information and Education Program
The purpose of the Palliative Care Consumer and
Professional Information and Education Program is to maximize the effectiveness
of palliative care initiatives in the state by ensuring that comprehensive and
accurate information and education about palliative care is available to the
public, health care providers, and health care facilities.
The Rhode Island Department of Health shall
publish on its Web site information and resources, including links to external
resources, about palliative care for the public, health care providers, and
health care facilities. This shall
include, but not be limited to, continuing educational opportunities for health
care providers; information about palliative care delivery in the home,
primary, secondary, and tertiary environments; best practices for palliative
care delivery; and consumer educational materials and referral information for
palliative care, including hospice.
Goal: Assess the needs of Palliative Care in Rhode Island by
establishing the Advisory Council and to create a Palliative Care Consumer and
Professional information Education Program.
Overarching goal is to require Palliative Care Access in Rhode Island
Health Facilities. And, establish a system for identifying patients or
residents who could benefit from palliative care. And provide information about and facilitate
access to appropriate palliative care services for patients or residents with
serious illness.
