Millions of Americans are dealing with advanced illness—defined as when health conditions become serious enough that general health declines, and treatment loses its impact. A serious challenge is that the quality of care these individuals receive varies significantly.
The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care, otherwise known as C-TAC, is an organization focused on ensuring everyone, especially the sickest and most vulnerable, receive high-quality care that is consistent with their values and respects their dignity. They hope to transform care for advanced illness through public and private policy, making changes to the care delivery system, and by empowering consumers. C-TAC is bringing together patient advocacy groups, medical teams, faith communities and individuals in an effort to bring about this change as quickly as possible.
To shed more light on these issues and explore potential solutions, C-TAC is hosting a summit on advanced illness care in Washington, D.C., January 29-30, 2013. The summit will explore community-based approaches, cultural issues, public perspectives, and the economics of advanced care. You can read more about the event here.
In this video, Dan Johnson, MD, FAAHPM, national physician lead for palliative care at Kaiser Permanente and a supporter of C-TAC, reflects on the quality of care for people living with advanced illness.
