Organizational Strategies for Providing Cancer Palliative Care to Many

Hospitals and healthcare organizations are today operating in an extremely competitive environment, with increasing pressure to improve quality while reducing costs. In responding to this dynamic situation, transformation of any organization requires the will to organize delivery around the needs of patients.

Providing palliative care to the many who require it needs the value agenda to be formulated based on mutually reinforcing components. Here we present an overview of the framework for a palliative care department in a comprehensive cancer center, which includes different levels that are embedded within a comprehensive system. Detailed information on each level is presented, followed by a discussion of quality of care, as an integrating theme for the framework. The chapter concludes by detailing the benefits that a comprehensive cancer palliative care center provides to a country's healthcare efforts through service, education, research, and advocacy.