Palliative Care in Every Community
Palliative Care is a specialized approach to care for patients with serious or advanced illnesses that focuses on effectively addressing the physical, psychological, and spiritual pain and symptoms associated with illness. It can be provided at any stage of a serious illness and includes not only medical interventions, but also encompasses effective advanced care planning/goals of care discussions, education, and information on the illness for both the patient and family. Palliative Care has been cited as one of the most impactful ways our healthcare system can improve the quality of care for the growing number of patients living with serious illness. Numerous studies have shown that palliative care brings better outcomes for patients, and their families, as well as serving as a resource and support for the healthcare professionals managing the patient’s treatment. It has been shown to be an effective approaching to help reduce the low value care that patients often receive during the later stages of an advanced illness.
Work Groups

Public Policy and Advocacy
The focus of this workgroup is to advocate for palliative care with policy makers for Floridians living with serious, chronic or advanced illness.

Professional Education and Practice
The focus of this workgroup is to help foster curriculum development and learning opportunities for palliative care professionals that promote better quality of life for Floridians living with serious, chronic or advanced illness

Community Outreach and Partnerships
The focus of this workgroup is to engage the community and develop partnerships that support and inspire the acceleration of solutions that promote better quality of life for Floridians living with serious, chronic or advanced illness.

Community Education
The focus of this workgroup is to help the community understand what palliative care is and promote better quality of life for Floridians living with serious, chronic or advanced illness.
Latest News and Research Articles
A news gallery of important events, research and news that help craft the story of palliative care in Florida and across the country.
Predictors of Palliative Care Knowledge: Findings from the Health Information National Trends Survey
Palliative care is an approach to provide optimal physical, emotional, and practical support to patients with serious illnesses. In the past decade,...
What matters most to patients and families at end of life: Findings from Quality of Death and Dying Index 2021
The Lien Centre for Palliative Care at Duke-NUS Medical School, commissioned by the Lien Foundation, has produced the Cross Country Comparison of...
Cross Country Comparison of Expert Assessments of the Quality of Death and Dying 2021
Over 55 million people died in 2019.1 The vast majority died in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) without even basic access to palliative...
Policy Avenues for Increasing Access to Advance Care Planning
C-TAC has historically focused on improving access to advance care planning (ACP) as the foundation of person-centered care and it is a key priority...
Researchers: Nearly 90% of Americans Do Not Understand Palliative Care
About 89% of people in the United States have inadequate knowledge of palliative care. One key determinant was health care utilization. The more...
Kaiser Study: 90% of Patients’ End-of-Life Goals Met After Advance Care Planning
Patients who inform their loved ones and health care providers of their end-of-life care wishes find that those goals are carried out 90% of the...
Advance Care Planning For Medicare Beneficiaries Increased Substantially, But Prevalence Remained Low
In 2016 fee-for-service Medicare began reimbursing physicians for advance care planning conversations with enrollees during outpatient visits and...
A Brief But Spectacular take on the importance of palliative care in rural communities
Tonight, we report on why palliative care is crucial in rural communities from three different perspectives. Dr. Jennifer Blechman of Bend, Oregon,...
Community-Based Palliative Care Benefit Could Shake Up the Home Health Market
Today, in-home care providers that offer palliative care services typically do so as a way to win referrals and bridge gaps between home health and...
Palliative care works, so why is it rarely used? Follow the money
A decade ago, a team of researchers showed clearly that a new treatment for advanced lung cancer significantly improved patients’ quality of life,...