Quality of Life: 101
What is the ACS CAN QoL Initiative?
An initiative to improve the lives of cancer
patients by making treatment of pain and
other symptoms and coordination of their
care standard protocol during treatment
Why Are We Making QoL a Priority?
• Part of ACS CAN’s core mission is to improve quality of
life for cancer patients during and after treatment
• QoL can defragment the health care system while
improving cancer patients’ & survivors’ lives
• The QoL initiative can take away some of the
unnecessary pain, fear & anxiety that many patients
feel and will make recovery and survivorship easier
• We now have the evidence we need to effectively
advocate for better patient care
What is “Quality of Life”?
Quality of Life
Palliative Care
Relief from
symptoms,
pain &
stress
Teambased care
for patient
& family
Appropriate
at any
stage & can
help
patients get
better
Palliative Care
Palliative Care is initiated at the time of
diagnosis, regardless of prognosis, and it
is provided alongside disease-directed
treatment at any age and any stage of any
serious illness.
Palliative Care
• Appropriate at any age and any stage in a
serious illness and can be provided along with
curative treatment
• Teams include physicians, nurses, social
workers, chaplains and other specialists who
work with a patient’s doctor to provide an extra
layer of support
• Improves QoL for both patient and family
• Delivers value to people, providers, and systems
by improving care quality and efficiency and
reducing costs
Palliative Care…What it is Not
Palliative care isn’t…
 Hospice
 Symptom management that can
only be provided when curative
treatment has concluded
 Support provided at the end of
life to make a patient comfortable
 Something that gives doctors the
authority to make decisions about
ending curative treatment or
rationing care
ACS CAN and QoL
ACS CAN approaches our work in palliative care in
three key areas:
Research
Investing in research on ways to improve patient quality of life
through palliative care (eg. symptom management, care
coordination and physician communication skills)
Building a Highly Trained Workforce
Ensuring sufficient numbers of doctors, nurses and other health
professionals are trained to provide high quality palliative care
Expanding Access
Expanding the availability of high-quality palliative care in hospitals
and then extending that care to other community sites where cancer
patients are treated
ACS CAN QoL Legislation
ACS CAN federal legislation addresses patient
barriers to palliative care in three key areas:
Expanding Research and Educating the
Public
The Patient
Centered Quality of
Life Act
(112th
Building a Highly Trained Workforce
Palliative Care,
Hospice, Education
and Training Act
(113th Congress)
Congress)
Directs the National Institute
of Health to expand research
on ways to improve patient
quality of life
Would create an education
campaign that makes people
aware of palliative care
Would provide funding to
medical schools to create
curriculum in palliative care,
Would establish a fellowship
program that would train
medical school faculty in
palliative care
Recap: What is Palliative Care?
Provided at any stage
in a serious illness and
can help patients get
better faster and with
greater ease.
Tries to provide
patients with
relief from
symptoms, pain,
and the stress of
a serious illness.
Team-based care
for the patient and
their family
members by
doctors, nurses &
others working
together to make
decisions.
Recap: Palliative Care…What it is Not
 Palliative care isn’t… hospice
 Palliative care isn’t… symptom
management that can only be
provided when curative treatment
has concluded
 Palliative care isn’t… support
provided at the end of life to
make a patient comfortable
 Palliative care isn’t… giving
doctors the authority to end
curative treatment or ration care
A Look Ahead: QoL Advocacy
•
QoL campaign will be a steady but consistent campaign
•
It is an advocacy campaign as well as an education campaign
•
We need to educate our volunteer structure and use
ACS/ACS CAN to help educate and empower patients
•
Federal and state legislation will need bipartisan support to move
forward
•
QoL advocacy campaign is an opportunity to work with key
stakeholder groups that we don’t typically work with to help move
the issue forward
Thank You!