Below are major professional organizations concerned with quality care and advancing the field of palliative care.

American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM)
AAHPM is an organization of physicians and other medical professionals dedicated to excellence in palliative medicine, the prevention and relief of suffering among patients and families by providing education and clinical practice standards, fostering research, facilitating personal and professional development of its members, and by public policy advocacy.

American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA)
AAHSA serves its members by representing the concerns of not-for-profit organizations that serve the elderly through interaction with Congress and federal agencies. It also strives to enhance the professionalism of practitioners and facilities through the Certification Program for Retirement Housing Professionals, the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission, conferences and programs, and publications representing current thinking in the long-term care and retirement housing fields.

American Cancer Society (ACS)
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.

American Geriatrics Society (AGS)
The American Geriatrics Society is a nationwide, not-for-profit association of geriatrics health care professionals, research scientists, and other concerned individuals dedicated to improving the health, independence and quality of life of all older people.

American Health Care Association (AHCA)
The American Health Care Association is a non-profit federation of affiliated state health organizations which represent the long term care community to the nation at large to government, business leaders, and the general public. It also serves as a force for change within the long term care field, providing information, education, and administrative tools that enhance quality at every level.

American Pain Foundation (APF)
American Pain Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization serving people with pain through information, education and advocacy. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for people with pain by raising public awareness, providing practical information, promoting research and advocating to remove barriers and increase access to effective pain management.

American Pain Society (APS)
The American Pain Society is a multidisciplinary organization of basic and clinical scientists, practicing clinicians, policy analysts, and others. The mission of the American Pain Society is to advance pain-related research, education, treatment and professional practice.

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
The American Society of Clinical Oncology is the world's leading professional organization representing physicians who treat people with cancer. ASCO's members set the standard for patient care worldwide, and lead the fight for more effective cancer treatments, increased funding for clinical and translational research, and, ultimately, cures for the many different cancers that strike millions of people around the world every year.

Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC)
The Association of Community Cancer Centers helps oncology professionals adapt to the complex challenges of program management, cuts in reimbursement, hospital consolidation and mergers, and legislation and regulations that threaten to compromise the delivery of quality cancer care.

Association of Professional Chaplains
The Association of Professional Chaplains is an interfaith professional pastoral care association of providers of pastoral care endorsed by faith groups to serve persons in physical, spiritual, or mental need in diverse settings throughout the world.

Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA)
The purpose of the HPNA is to exchange information, experiences, and ideas; to promote understanding of the specialties of hospice and palliative nursing; and to study and promote hospice and palliative nursing research.

Hospice Foundation of America
Hospice Foundation of America is a not-for-profit organization that provides leadership in the development and application of hospice and its philosophy of care. Through programs of professional development, research, public education and information, Hospice Foundation of America assists those who cope either personally or professionally with terminal illness, death, and the process of grief.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, JCAHO is the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, JCAHO has developed state-of-the-art, professionally based standards and evaluated the compliance of health care organizations against these benchmarks.

Joint Commission Resources, Inc. (JCR)
Joint Commission Resources (JCR) is a client-focused, expert resource for health care organizations. It partners with these organizations, providing consulting services, educational services and publications to assist in improving the quality, safety and efficiency of health care services, and to assist in meeting the accreditation standards of the Joint Commission. JCR is a subsidiary of JCAHO, but provides services independently and confidentially, disclosing no information about its clients to JCAHO or others.

National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS)
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the only survivor-led advocacy organization working exclusively on behalf of people with all types of cancer and their families, is dedicated to assuring quality cancer care for all Americans. NCCS's new Essential Care Web content provides cancer survivors with evidence-based information on managing side effects, controlling pain, understanding psychosocial issues and planning for the end-of life.

National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care (NCP)
The purpose of the National Consensus Project is to arrive at voluntary consensus standards describing the scope and characteristics of both specialist and primary practice setting palliative care services in the United States. Consensus standards are needed to stimulate and guide the development of new and existing programs across care settings and to promote formal recognition, stable reimbursement structures, and accreditation initiatives in palliative care. The NCP will develop two reports: voluntary consensus Standards for specialty-level palliative care, followed by a set of palliative care standards for primary practice settings.

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is the largest nonprofit membership organization representing hospice and palliative care programs and professionals in the United States. The organization is committed to improving end-of-life care and expanding access to hospice care with the goal of profoundly enhancing quality of life for people dying in America and their loved ones.

National Hospice Workgroup
A professional coalition of executives from some of the nation's largest and most innovative hospices, The National Hospice Work Group is committed to increasing access to hospice and palliative care. For more than 20 years members have made significant contributions to the care of patients facing life-threatening disease. As the century turns, we intend to advance even further, through advocacy, research and education, the proven model of care for people affected by profound disease.

Promoting Excellence
Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care is a National Program Office of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation providing grants and technical support to innovative programs to change the face of dying in America.

Project on Death In America (PDIA)
Dedicated to understanding and transforming the culture and experience of dying and bereavement through initiatives in research, scholarship, the humanities and the arts, and to fostering innovations in the provision of care, public education and professional training.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was established as a national philanthropy in 1972 and today it is the largest US foundation devoted to improving the health and health care of all Americans. Its grantmaking is concentrated in three areas: to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; and to promote health and prevent disease by reducing the harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

Social Work in Hospice and Palliative Care Network
SWHPN is an emerging network of social work organizations and leaders who seek to further the field of end-of-life and hospice/palliative care… in other words, we are advancing the role of the social worker in caring for the seriously ill, providing relief from pain, improving quality of life, supporting family and friends, assisting with difficult decision-making, and help in dealing with trauma, grief and loss.