Health Topics: Palliative Care   Palliative Care Publications   Compassionate Care

Palliative Care Tools for Providers

The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) are pleased to offer an audio conference on "Billing and Coding for Palliative Care Consultations: Getting Paid for What You Do." Physicians, nurses, social workers, financial managers, administrators, billing coordinators, and medical directors of palliative care programs are invited to participate.

This audio conference will review the common reasons for CMS application errors, provide recommendations to minimize denials, and supply concrete strategies to simplify appeals. A review of Part B billing for hospital consults will also be presented. Participants will learn an overview of billing rules to help avoid future problems; common reasons for payment denials; strategic approaches to reducing denials; best practices for palliative care team new hires and staff credentialing in order to minimize denials, and strategies for regular audit and QI activities to improve revenues from billing and appeals.

Featured speakers include Lynn Hill Spragens, president and ceo, Spragens & Associates, LLC and Julie Pipke, reimbursement manager of medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin.

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) has released the third edition of the Hospice and Palliative Care Training for Physicians: UNIPAC book series. This foundational resource is a must-have for any clinician interested in incorporating palliative medicine principles into his or her practice. Featuring evidence-based guidance, clinical case studies, and pre- and posttests, the Hospice and Palliative Care Training for Physicians: UNIPAC self-study book series is a valuable reference for clinicians who care for patients with serious or life-limiting illnesses. Up to 54 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM are available. For more information about the UNIPAC book series, or membership in the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, contact AAHPM Member Services at 847/375-4712, or visit the AAHPM Web site at www.aahpm.org.

Comfort Care/ DNR Order Verification Protocol
Developed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

This Comfort Care / DNR ("CC/DNR") Order Verification Protocol is designed to allow EMS personnel to honor a DNR order in anout-of-hospital setting. To date, there are no standardized documents by which EMS personnel can verify a DNR order in the field, under emergency conditions. This protocol provides for a state-wide, uniform DNR order verification, approved by the Department of Public Health (DPH), that EMS personnel can instantly recognize as an acceptable verification of an existing DNR order; thus, allowing EMS personnel to honor the patient's request for no resuscitation and to provide the patient with palliative care in conformance with the Comfort Care protocol. The protocol explains:

Purpose - to enable EMS personnel to honor DNR orders in out-of-hospital setting
Authority - to recognize an individual's right to refuse medical treatment in an out-of-hospital setting, where the authenticity of the documentation can be validated.
Implementation Procedures - Eligibility | Validity | Content | Expiration | Access | Patient Care | Documentation | Revocation

End of Life / Palliative Education Resource Center (EPERC) www.eperc.mcw.edu/
The purpose of EPERC is to assist physicians and other educators involved in all aspects of physician end of life (EOL) education through:

Fast Facts
Educational materials, by format, to download
Suggested articles
Links to clinical and educational Web resource centers
Upcoming Meetings
Starter Kits

Pediatric Pain and Symptom Management Algorithms for Palliative Care
The handy pocket-sized book reflects the treatment protocols developed at Providence Hospice of Yakima. Each topic includes a detailed section on assessment, as well as non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatment algorithms for each distressing symptom. An appendix includes:

Pain assessment tools
The Karnofsky and ECOG scales
Tables of adjuvant medications, plus more.

This book was designed by by Wrede-Seaman, L.to be an educational tool as well as handy reference tool for physicians and nurses who deal with palliative medicine. To order this book, please visit www.intelli-card.com/hospicekids.html

Pediatric Pain Profile
The Pediatric Pain Profile (PPP) is a behavior rating scale for assessing pain in children with severe physical and learning impairments. Developed by researchers at the Royal College of Nursing Institute, Oxford and the Institute of Child Health, London.

From this Web site you can:

Find out about the development of the Pediatric Pain Profile.
Download the Pediatric Pain Profile with instructions for its use.
Order bound paper copies of the Pediatric Pain Profile.
Find links to other Web sites relevant to health care and to children's pain.

National Alliance for Children With Life Threatening Conditions (NACWLTC)
NACWLTC is dedicated to improving palliative, end of life and bereavement services for children with life-threatening conditions and the loved ones who care for them. Their Web site offers a variety of Pediatric Palliative Care Tools, Program Development Forms, and Educational Materials for:

Clinical Care
Evaluation
Organization
Education

You can learn more about these tools on the NACWLTC Web site. (This site is currently being updated - please check back soon).

Last Updated August 13, 2008