Using Between-Patient Comparisons to Quantify Outcomes
This brief guide summarizes several of the key decision points and choices for health plans that wish to quantify program impact by comparing outcomes for members who received palliative care to outcomes for members who did not receive palliative care.
Universal Referral Form
This form was developed to provide a standard referral form for plans to use when referring new patients to their palliative care providers.
Snapshots of Palliative Care Practices
Insights from the 2015 Coalition for Compassionate Care of California Annual Summit.
Developed with support from the California Health Care Foundation
SB 1004 Palliative Care News
Reports on our work with the California Department of Health Care Services to shape the standards by which Managed Care Plans to ensure access to palliative care for Medi-Cal enrollees. Learn more
Additional Resources Available from our Partners
A free resource available from the California Health Care Foundation, this toolkit was developed to assist California Medi-Cal managed care plans in developing and optimizing palliative care programs that meet or exceeds the state’s requirements to ensure access to palliative care for eligible members. While developed specifically for Medi-Cal programs, much of the content is generalizable to Medicare and commercial lines of business. The toolkit features links to resources that offer guidance in operationalizing all of the key sections of the Standards, including issues related to eligibility, provider qualifications, services, measurement, and payment models.
A free resource available from the California Health Care Foundation, materials in this resource center were designed to support Medi-Cal managed care plans and palliative care providers in developing and optimizing palliative care programs for Medi-Cal enrollees. While the materials were developed for Medi-Cal programs, most of the content is generalizable to Medicare and commercial lines of business. The resource center includes materials that address multiple operational topics, including promising practices for identifying eligible patients, engaging patients and referring providers, assessing quality, and use of telehealth to complement in-person visits.
Available as a free download from the Center to Advance Palliative Care, this document includes guidance on using claims and other data to proactively identify seriously ill individuals who would benefit from palliative care, as well as tips for using care managers to identify and engage potentially eligible patients, and common practices related to titrating services (and payment amounts) to meet changing patient and family needs.
RAND Corporation researchers, in collaboration with Oregon Health and Science University and Yale University, developed and field-tested a survey to assess the care experiences of individuals who receive care from programs that provide serious illness care to patients in their homes. The survey is available in both long and abridged versions and is available free of charge. The RAND web site includes multiple documents to guide survey administration and scoring of findings.