Late last year, C-TAC released and developed Core Principles for Care Models for Those with Serious Illness to provide clear guideposts that can be used to evaluate payment and care models, and align with the evidence-based 4th edition of the National Consensus Project Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care and the latest research.
C-TAC was eager to hear from various Foundation leaders to get a sense of the effectiveness and benefits that the Core Principles delivered to their strategic planning and organizational goals. All the Foundations interviewed participate in Grantmakers in Aging’s Serious Illness and End-of-Life Funders Community. The Serious Illness and End-of-Life Funders Community includes 46 participants representing 35 funders, from small, local, and family foundations to regional and national grantmakers, with a shared commitment to improving the care of people with serious illness and their families and caregivers.
C-TAC funder and collaborator, Rani Snyder, Vice President for Program of The John A. Hartford Foundation, notes the significant role C-TAC plays in coalescing and guiding the field and that these Core Principles provide a useful organizing framework. The John A. Hartford Foundation, a national foundation based in New York City focused on improving the care of older adults, helped to establish the Serious Illness and End-of-Life Funders Community.
C-TAC member and close collaborator, Julie Boudreau, Executive Director, of the John & Wauna Harman Foundation and partner behind C-TAC’s Recent Equity Funding Announcement has been using the core principles with her board and has appreciated the big picture map and clarity that the principles provide. Boudreau also believes that the principles frame the practical components of the work that we all need to be thinking about and focusing on. To ensure she is instilling the principles in her day-to-day work, she keeps them pinned to her corkboard, reflecting her commitment to their integration and inclusion.
Julie Evans, Executive Director of Roots & Roads Community Hospice Foundation provides supplemental support for hospice patients and their loved ones; educates the community about end-of-life issues; and supports research projects to improve end-of-life care. Evans’ previous experience in Case Management helped her realize first-hand the value of having someone guide an individual’s journey through the health and social services system. She loves the idea of reimbursement for these services that are built into the Core Principles. On that same note, she believes that having a navigator, case manager, or similar guide can and should reduce gaps in services for patients and sees this as one of many downstream benefits once these core principles became more standard in care models.
C-TAC was also thrilled to discuss the principles with another long-time supporter, Carol Gallo, Executive Director of The Y.C. Ho/Helen & Michael Chiang Foundation. Gallo and her team work to help improve the quality of life for patients and families facing serious illness, especially as it relates to the social, psychological, and spiritual care elements of one’s care journey. Gallo really appreciated that C-TAC’s Core Principles underscore these elements throughout. The Foundation is also working on and looking at projects to standardize care, so they feel that guiding principles, like C-TAC’s Core Principles are extremely helpful when thinking of the language needed to enhance these projects. The COVID-19 pandemic has also underscored the necessity of several of the elements of the Core Principles, including the elements of 24/7 care and using technology, especially telehealth, as appropriate. Gallo also notes how helpful various elements of the Core Principles are for their foundation strategy including the third element under the Care category that “care is provided by a qualified core interdisciplinary team, with additional team members as needed.” Gallo noted that this was similar language that their foundation is using and appreciated the emphasis on “team members as needed” opening the possibility to other modalities of care.
We encourage other C-TAC community leaders to give the team feedback on the principles as well as tell them about which Principles you’re currently working on, where you’ve had successful breakthroughs, and where you’re running into policy barriers or opportunities to expand the work.
These Core Principles will provide a target for achieving shared goals throughout our field and provide a “model for models” to move closer to comprehensive care for the person and family.
For more information or to provide comments on these principles, please contact Luke Scuitto, Partnership Associate Director, at lscuitto@thectac.org.
