WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) reintroduced the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA), a bipartisan bill to grow, improve and sustain the palliative and hospice care workforce to keep pace with patients’ needs and to help improve the well-being of Americans with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
“Access to high quality palliative and hospice care services is vital for patients and their families,” Senator Capito said. “As a caregiver for parents living with Alzheimer’s disease, I saw firsthand just how valuable these services are. In order to preserve access to this care, our bill would strengthen training and education opportunities for individuals working in these fields. I look forward to working with Senator Baldwin and my colleagues in the Senate to pass this legislation.”
“Having served as my grandmother’s primary caregiver as she grew older, this issue is near and dear to me, and I want to make a difference for families like mine experiencing serious health concerns,” Senator Baldwin said. “I’m proud to work on this bipartisan bill that will grow and sustain our palliative and hospice care workforce and in turn, improve the quality of life for the growing number of patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses.”
Palliative and hospice care focus on relieving patients’ suffering from serious illnesses and working to improve their quality of life. The work is done through an interprofessional team of doctors, nurses, social workers, physician assistants, and other specialists focusing on the patients’ needs and ensuring families a voice in achieving their treatment goals. Medical research shows that palliative and hospice care have been associated with enhanced quality of life for patients, reduced hospital expenditures and lengths of stay, and longer patient survival time.
As palliative care needs increased, the number of professionals and providers needed to fulfill patient needs has not kept pace. Senators Capito and Baldwin’s PCHETA will help build a health care workforce more closely aligned with the nation’s evolving health care needs and improve care and quality of life for millions of Americans facing serious illness by focusing on three key areas:
The bipartisan legislation is also supported by Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
PCHETA is supported by: The Alzheimer's Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Catholic Health Association of the United States, Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization Hospice Action Network, Children's Wisconsin, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, among others. A letter in support of PCHETA from more than 50 organizations can be found here and additional quotes of support are available here.
“For children with chronic conditions or life-threatening illnesses, palliative care and hospice services can support them and their families and help to alleviate suffering, and yet far too many families cannot access these benefits,” said American Academy of Pediatrics President Moira Szilagyi, MD, PhD, FAAP. “We must do more to ensure that this care is a key component of a holistic approach to serious and life-threatening illness. The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act would address this need and bring more awareness to the importance of palliative care. We thank Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) for their dedication to this issue and look forward to the bill’s advancement,”
A one pager on the bill is available here.
Full text of the legislation is available here.
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