Act Now to Help Pass Critical Palliative Care Legislation.
Letters of Endorsement are Needed By June 19.

Dear Colleagues:

As many of you are no doubt aware, Senators Rockefeller (D-WV) and Collins (R-ME) have introduced comprehensive palliative care legislation, at least some of which is likely to survive into the forthcoming health care reform bill. Click here for a section-by-section summary. A companion bill is under development in the House. This is the moment to mobilize support and endorsement. Your advocacy is essential if we are to leverage this opportunity to elicit support for passage of the transformational components necessary to improve access to quality palliative care for all Americans.

Letters of endorsement are needed by June 19.

Please complete the following two steps:

1. Please send letters on organizational letterhead in hard copy to:
   Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV
   531 Hart Senate Office Building
   Washington, DC 20510
   
   And
   
   Senator Susan Collins
   413 Dirksen Senate Office Building
   Washington, DC 20510
   
   
2. Please send your letters as attachments in an e-mail to:
   brian_hensel@rockefeller.senate.gov
   
   jocelyn_moore@rockefeller.senate.gov

Note: There's an underscore between first and last names in the senate emails.

Your participation will make a difference! We greatly appreciate your attention to this urgent matter.

Regards,
Diane E. Meier, MD, and CAPC

Template Letter of Endorsement:

Below is suggested language for an endorsement letter. Please feel free to use or edit as you see fit.

Dear Senator Rockefeller and Senator Collins:

I am writing on behalf of (organization) to express our strong endorsement for S.1150 Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009. As you are aware, palliative care demonstrably and substantially improves quality and reduces cost for the 10% of the sickest and most complex patients who drive two-thirds of all health care spending. All of the priorities in the legislation are of great importance, but in particular, we are appreciative of your attention to:

1. Workforce (physician and nurse practitioner) adequacy and loan forgiveness, National Service Corps, curricular changes, and GME dollars (cap exemption) necessary to assure access to quality palliative care for all Americans;
2. Development of provider reimbursement for conversations about goals of care, and in particular support for completion of orders for life sustaining treatment in appropriate patient populations (POLST);
3. Assuring access to concurrent curative and hospice care for children;
4. Incentives (payment, NQF quality measures, compliance) for hospital and nursing home delivery of quality palliative care;
5. Establishment of a National Center on Palliative Care within the NIH as a mechanism to assure adequate attention to the evidence necessary to deliver highest quality of care;
6. Conduct of an ongoing National Mortality Followback Survey to ensure a process of continuous improvement in the quality of care we deliver to this most vulnerable and needy of patient populations.

Thank you again for your commitment to this important element of health care reform. The provisions in your Bill are critical to the goal of assuring access to quality care for all Americans.

Sincerely,