New Report Exposes High Costs Associated Dearth of Dignified Death

Last week, reporting on the largely broken, slippery slope of costly, undignified end-of-life outcomes too many families experience, broke in the news.

The news reported on a 21-member nonpartisan committee that was part of the National Academy of Sciences. This committee just released a report calling for sweeping changes in end-of-life care.

Many of the recommended changes could be accomplished without legislation. Other recommendations are just common sense AND would save a lot of money.

Here’s a summary of the recommendations:

• Reimburse health care providers for conversations on advanced care planning.
   
• Restructure Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care delivery programs.
   
• Eliminate perverse financial incentives that encourage expensive hospital procedures when low-tech services like pain management and home health care are available.
   
• Finally, accredited medical schools and groups as well as health providers should greatly increase training in palliative care.

My opinion is these changes cannot happen soon enough. I hope such reporting, accompanied by public outrage, continues.