Encourage the Department of Human Resources to work with the appropriate entities to obtain a grant or other comprehensive funding to develop additional hospice-type care units for patients declared terminally ill before January 1998. Develop two healthcare units. One would be the Intensive Cure Unit and the other would be the Palliative or Acute Care Unit. HealthInsight and other organizations should coordinate a public education program to inform consumers about current education and service opportunities available throughout the state. The public education program should have the potential to reach more people who may be putting off making these decisions and to heighten awareness of others.
Public education is essential to better comprehend the necessity of adequate pain management.
Physicians should be encouraged to continue to initiate discussions on goals of care. This discussion should include advance directives as part of a routine patient history. Physicians should particularly discuss goals of care and advance directives with all elderly patients and patients with chronic or terminal illnesses. The discussions should go beyond a mere inquiry as to whether the patient has executed an advance directive, but should also focus on why an advance directive should be considered. The physician should be able to respond to all questions and provide back-up information.