Cover: End-of-life Care

End-of-life Care

An Agenda for Policy Improvement

Published in: Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, v. 21, no. 1, Feb. 2005, p. 255-272

Posted on RAND.org on January 01, 2005

by Lisa R. Shugarman, Karl Lorenz, Joanne Lynn

Current arrangements for health care in the United States do not adequately address the needs of a growing population that has serious, eventually fatal chronic illness. New programs and policies are necessary to encourage coordination of care; better match services to the needs of patients; better provide education and incentives; and better support formal and informal caregivers. Models of end-of-life care, such as MediCaring, are described along with a research and policy agenda that focuses on modifying the health care system and building on new innovations.

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