Benefits Cost Quality of Life In the last week of life, the mean aggregate costs of care (in 2008 US dollars) were $1876 for cancer patients who reported EOL discussions compared with $2917 for patients who did not, a cost difference of $1041. Quality of Life Patients with higher costs had worse quality of death in their final week Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(5):480-488.
Medicare Reimbursement On Friday, November 2, 2015, the Obama administration issued a final rule that will allow Medicare to reimburse physicians for end-of-life discussions with patients. The rule will take effect Jan. 1, 2016
Medicare Reimbursement (2) The rule allows physicians to include end-of-life discussions as part of patients' annual check-ups. Physicians can also continue to be reimbursed for such discussions that occur during a patient's initial visit when he or she first enrolls in Medicare, which is already covered under the program
Starting the Conversation “. . .early and often . . .”
Life-Value Conversations (1) http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?obj_id=122100
Life-Value Conversations (2) VALUES http://schools.alcdsb.on.ca/teachers/bradynic/HRE%204M1%2012M%20Handouts/Unit%201%20Ethics%20and%20Morals/Personal%20Values%20Inventory.pdf
Life-Value Conversations (3) Values Sort Cards Very Important Important Not Important http://www.motivationalinterviewing.org/sites/default/files/valuescardsort_0.pdf