Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)

Each year MedPAC presents a report to Congress on selected Medicare issues. In the 1999 report, a special chapter was devoted to the topic of end-of-life care. Nearly 2 million Medicare beneficiaries die each year so MedPAC joins other groups in addressing the need for humane compassionate and appropriate care as a priority for the Medicare program.

Recommendations:

• Make end-of-life care a national quality improvement priority for Medicare+Choice and traditional Medicare.
• Support research on care at the end of life, and work with non-governmental organizations as they (1) educate the health care profession and the public about care at the end of life and (2) develop measures to accredit health care organizations and provide public accountability for the quality of end-of-life care.
• Sponsor projects to develop and test measures of the quality of end-of-life care for Medicare beneficiaries, and enlist quality improvement organizations and Medicare+Choice plans to implement quality improvement programs for care at the end of life.
• Promote advance care planning by practitioners and patients well before terminal health crises occur.