Michael Fratkin’s End-of-Life Care Program - ResolutionCare

Michael Fratkin is the medical director of the Palliative Care Service at a community hospital in rural Northern California.  



He recently founded ResolutionCare as a response to the exploding need for capable and soulful care for everyone, everywhere as they face the completion of life.  (NPR)



ResolutionCare will do three things. First, it "will provide outpatient palliative care to people in their own homes, either via house calls or through virtual house calls using telemedicine technology."  (Lost Coast Outpost)



Second, Resolution Care will provide "telemedicine consultations to patients anywhere in California, particularly in rural areas where palliative care is lacking."



Third, Resolution Care will "reproduce this palliative care model elsewhere in the state." 



The ReSolutionCare website has lots of additional materials and videos.  The basic description is as "a social enterprise responding to exploding demand for severely limited Palliative Care services as people face mortality within a fragmented and transforming health care system."



"The quality of care for individuals facing the end of their lives—and their loved ones—is often characterized by unmet needs for even basic symptom control, confusion in the navigation of labyrinthine healthcare delivery systems, and the loss of empowerment and self-determination."



"The field of Palliative Care has gotten enormous traction with policy makers and professional organizations over the last 10-15 years by delivering high quality person-centered support for well being, in parallel with disease-targeted medical care."



"In the face of shifting incentives, evolving sensibilities, and shear demographic weight of the aging ‘Baby Boom’ generation, the demand for Palliative Care is growing exponentially while the supply of skilled and inspired professionals lags far behind. The result is unnecessary suffering, and costs, and an enormous opportunity to make a meaningful difference for everyone at the most vulnerable moment imaginable."