HASC’s Palliative Care Committee serves as a network for palliative care professionals to exchange information and help create and strengthen existing programs. The committee also educates the hospital and post-acute provider community on the benefits of palliative care programs for providers, payers, patients and their families. The HASC web site, www.hasc.org, also provides a toolkit of resources for palliative care programs (go to Health Care Topics, and click on Palliative Care).

Please save the following date: 4th Annual HASC Palliative Care Conference, Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012.

A recent article in Trustee magazine highlights the positive outcomes of palliative care, including minimizing unnecessary costs; addressing ICU bottlenecks; using hospitalist teams as catalysts for improved care efficiencies; keeping patients and families safe and satisfied; minimizing readmission rates; and planning for further bundling of payments for care in multiple settings, across multiple episodes.