Care Gap: Identifying and Bridging Barriers in Primary Palliative Care
A commentary published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology examines why primary palliative care, delivered by oncologists and their care teams, is needed to address specialty palliative care workforce shortages, and why primary palliative care trials to date have not replicated the quality-of-life benefits seen with specialty palliative care. The authors propose components that future interventions and trials should incorporate, including facilitating adaptive coping and interdisciplinary team involvement, and discuss the systemic and reimbursement barriers, such as fee-for-service and productivity-based payment models, that limit primary palliative care's implementation in oncology practices.