Center to Advance Palliative Care

Great question. I concur that there is no best practice here – some services are administratively based in a clinical department or service line (like oncology or geriatrics), others are affiliated with a medical center department like case management, nursing or spiritual care. So, select the administrative home that makes the most sense at your institution – you might ask yourself, will one department vs another be able to give me relatively stronger support from a senior administrator? I believe that the department that serves as your program’s administrative home is less important than how your program is integrated into the larger operations of your medical center or health system. Consider the preferred program administration practice set forth in the Operational Features for Hospital Palliative Care Programs: Consensus Recommendations (Weissman DE, Meier DE: Operational features for hospital palliative care programs: consensus recommendations. J Palliat Med 11:1189-1194, 2008):

“Palliative care program staff integrated into the management structure of the hospital to ensure that program processes, outcomes and strategic planning are developed in consideration of hospital mission/goals.”

So, think about how you will integrate your new service into the larger hospital infrastructure. And consider if affiliating with one department vs another will make integration easier. Regards, Kathleen Kerr, Senior Analyst, University of California San Francisco, Palliative Care Leadership Center