On Friday, August 9th, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law which aims to increase access to palliative care services in the state of New Jersey. The law prompts the creation of an 11 member state advisory council on palliative care and quality of life.
The new law also includes provisions for a hospice and palliative care access program to expand public and clinician awareness with the goal of building a system to identify patients who need these types of care and educating them about its benefits for the seriously ill.
Under these provisions; hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and rehabilitation facilities will be required to give accurate and comprehensive information about palliative care and hospice services to patients with serious illnesses. This will most likely take the form of a new regulatory requirement: evidence of palliative care and end-of-life training to staff, and evidence of palliative care and end-of-life training to patients and families.
“Palliative care optimizes a patient’s quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering caused by serious illness,” said Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington), a doctor and lead sponsor of the bill, which had unanimous support in both houses when it passed in June. “It’s a compassionate approach to treatment that we should be promoting for the benefit of New Jersey families.”
“Palliative care optimizes a patient’s quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering caused by serious illness”
However, palliative care does more than increase quality of life for patients, it benefits our healthcare system as a whole. Studies have shown that patients who receive palliative care consultations are far less likely to be readmitted to the hospital, showing their 30 day readmission rates to be between 40%-50% less than patients who did not receive a consultation.
This means better 30 day readmission rates for skilled nursing facilities, and lower ED utilization for hospitals. This increases the quality of life of our entire community!
Always Think Comfort has been providing palliative care education services for over 20 years in the state of New Jersey. We are committed to the advancement of palliative care not just here in our home state of NJ, but across the globe! For more information on our education services, click here.