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Palliative Care: Is Your State Making the Grade?
Since I've been at ACS CAN, we've made significant progress in educating lawmakers, patients and the public about the benefits of palliative care . This specialized medical care that focuses on care coordination and relief from pain, stress and other symptoms of treatment for a life-threatening disease such as cancer ... PCHETA bill would facilitate and expand federal research into palliative care; support training for nurses, nurse practitioners and other allied health professionals to effectively practice palliative care; and establish a national palliative care public education and awareness campaign. ...
Massachusetts Addresses Cancer Disparities with Permanent Office of Health Equity
With the stroke of his pen, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker last month signed into law a decade-long effort toward improving health equity in the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts 2019 state budget includes a policy provision seeking to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities across the state. This accomplishment is the culmination of an over ten-year campaign and partnership by the American Cancer ... disease. It is essential that we find ways to ensure that every resident of the United States has equitable access to quality, affordable health care and equal opportunity to live a healthy life. I’m proud of the enduring effort of our team in Massachusetts and their partners to address ...
What will it take for palliative care to be mainstream?
"Palliative care suffers from an identity problem." That's the first line of an important article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) ... in Washington, the authors make an important point about the appeal to lawmakers of providing palliative care as a win-win from both a health and economic perspective: Providing palliative care at early stages meets the important aims of better health and improved care, all at lower cost. It's no surprise we're seeing growing bipartisan support for two pieces of legislation introduced in ...
House Proposal Flat Funds Cancer Research and Compromises Access to Care
... programs at the NIH and CDC passed a budget proposal that flat lines cancer research and defunds important programs that would improve access to care for families affected by cancer. Needless to say, this is a huge disappointment for cancer patients across the country. The importance of the ... to help set up marketplaces where people can shop and compare options for quality coverage and stripping funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which is refocusing the nation on staying well rather than waiting to treat people until they are sick. Ultimately, this proposal could increase the number of cancer patients and survivors who postpone or skip lifesaving treatment because they don't have health coverage. Next, this proposal will head to the full House Committee on Appropriations for markup. On behalf of the 13.7 million cancer ...
Advancing Health Equity: Tobacco Control as a Racial and Social Justice Issue
... the voices and perspectives of volunteers, colleagues and partners who are leading the work to address longstanding disparities in cancer care and outcomes. Achieving health equity in communitie s nationwide is a cornerstone of our mission. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., a ... to people in our country. While tobacco-related cancer incidence and mortality have significantly declined, it remains an area of public health in which disparities by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and geographic location persist to this day, ...
Dr. Len: Palliative Care Is About Quality Of Life Throughout The Cancer Journey
The American Cancer Society's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Len Lichtenfeld posted a great blog on palliative care recently that I wanted to share with all of you. It explains the differences between end-of-life care and palliative care, and highlights the ... and their families with advanced illness-such as locally advanced or cancer that has spread to other parts of the body--to meet with a team of health professionals and others-including among them "a chaplain, a minister, or the individual's personal religious or spiritual advisor"--to ... Society Cancer Action Network, the advocacy affiliate of the Society, has sponsored several pieces of legislation to fund research, train health professionals, and bring national attention to provide better patient centered care for those with chronic illnesses. Included in these ...
Polling Shows Strong Public Support for Accepting Federal Funds to Increase Access to Care Through Medicaid
As you might remember, when the Supreme Court ruled in June to preserve critical patient protections in the Affordable Care Act , it also ruled that the law cannot require states to expand their Medicaid programs. It's up to each state to make the decision for itself. Since the ruling by the high court, a geographic mix of states have been wrestling with the decision of whether to make health coverage under Medicaid available to individuals and families under 133 percent of the federal poverty level, as urged by the ACA. Thousands ... Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico and Texas - want their state to accept federal funds that are available to broaden access to health coverage through Medicaid. Specifically, we informed participants that federal funds are available to pay 100 percent of the costs to cover ...
Guest Post: A Governor's Perspective
Last week, I was invited to speak about the realities of Massachusetts's health care reform at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network's National Forum on the Future of Health Care in Washington, DC. Because our reform serves as the model for the Affordable Care Act, and because our experience is so often ...
Great Minds Thinking Alike
Yesterday was an incredible day at ACS CAN we held our first-ever National Forum on the Future of Health Care and it was a huge success! The conference focused on how to ensure that people living with cancer and other chronic diseases have access to quality health care. It's a discussion that has grown in intensity since implementation of the Affordable Care Act began, and our forum brought ...
Making Today Better With Public Policies That Improve Patient Quality of Life
... life for patients and their families is a top priority for ACS CAN’s advocacy agenda, and advancing policies that expand access to palliative care is an essential component of our work to support cancer patients around the country. From the moment of diagnosis, palliative care provides ... through a team of specialized professionals, ultimately giving them more control in managing their disease and symptoms and leading to better health outcomes and reduced health care spending. Today, ACS CAN volunteers will join the Patient Quality of Life Coalition ( PQLC ), an advocacy group of more than 40 ...