Policies and Payment Systems to Improve End-of-Life Care

On March 20, 2015, the Institute of Medicine will convene "National Action Conference: Policies and Payment Systems to Improve End-of-Life Care" at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, DC.



This meeting will bring together health leaders, policy makers, and other stakeholders to discuss how the recommendations from the IOM report Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life could be implemented and what barriers exist that might prevent them from becoming a reality.  



The conference will feature panels on national policy issues, including

• Opportunities and challenges for health care systems, providers, insurers, hospice and palliative care organizations, patient groups, and quality standards organizations


• The integration of financing for medical and social services near the end of life


• Improvements to public and private payment systems to facilitate high-quality care

Confirmed speakers include:

• Christine Cassel, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Quality Forum


• Patrick Conway, Deputy Administrator for Innovation & Quality, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Chief Medical Officer, CMS


• Atul Gawande, Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, Professor, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School


• Rebecca Kirch, Director, Quality of Life and Survivorship, American Cancer Society


• Harold Paz, Chief Medical Officer, Aetna


• Judy Peres, Director, Improving End of Life Care, Pew Charitable Trusts, Member, IOM Committee on Approaching Death: Addressing Key End-of-Life Issues


• Philip A. Pizzo, Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology and Former Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine, Co-Chair, IOM Committee on Approaching Death: Addressing Key End-of-Life Issues


• J. Donald Schumacher, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization


• David Stevenson, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University


• Richard Umbdenstock, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Hospital Association


• Bruce Vladeck, Senior Adviser, Nexera, Former Administrator, HCFS


• The Honorable David M. Walker, Former U.S. Comptroller General, Co-Chair, IOM Committee on Approaching Death: Addressing Key End-of-Life Issues


• Senator Mark Warner 


• Steven E. Weinberger, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, American College of Physicians