Palliative Care in Rural Minnesota: Findings from Stratis Health's Minnesota Rural Palliative Care Initiative
Minnesota Medicine
|February 23, 2016
Summary
Palliative care programs can be established in rural areas to support chronically ill patients. This initiative focused on developing and testing measures for evaluating rural palliative care programs.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Geriatrics
- Palliative Care Medicine
Background:
- Palliative care improves comfort and reduces hospitalizations for patients with chronic or terminal illnesses.
- Access to palliative care specialists is often limited in rural settings.
- Rural healthcare organizations are developing palliative care programs for aging and chronically ill populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a six-year initiative to advance palliative care in rural Minnesota.
- To highlight the implementation of palliative care at FirstLight Health System.
- To present the development and testing of measures for evaluating rural palliative care programs.
Main Methods:
- A six-year initiative led by Stratis Health.
- Case study of FirstLight Health System in Mora, Minnesota.
- Development and testing of the Rural Palliative Care Measurement Pilot Project.
Main Results:
- Successful advancement of palliative care initiatives in rural Minnesota.
- Demonstrated a model for rural palliative care program development.
- Pilot project provided measures for evaluating rural palliative care program effectiveness.
Conclusions:
- Palliative care programs can be successfully implemented in rural areas.
- Stratis Health's initiative advanced rural palliative care access and quality.
- The pilot project offers a framework for measuring the impact of rural palliative care.
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