Closing the Palliative Care Workforce Gap through State Lawmaking: A Survey of Legislation 2010-2023
A new study co-authored by Stacie Sinclair, MPP, Associate Director of Policy and Care Transformation at CAPC, and Eugene Rusyn, JD, from the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, examines state legislation on palliative care from 2010 to 2023. The study finds that out of 723 state bills and laws related to palliative care, only 14 (2%) addressed workforce shortages, and just five were enacted. An additional 55 measures focused on clinical skill-building for non-specialists, but overall workforce-related policy remained a small share of legislative activity.
The authors highlight a persistent gap between the growing need for palliative care services and the limited policy response to expand the workforce. They point to opportunities for states to lead through targeted interventions such as training pipeline expansion, loan repayment programs, telehealth expansion, and adoption of workforce strategies used in fields like primary care and behavioral health. The paper concludes that stronger and more sustained state-level action is needed to ensure access to palliative care for patients with serious illness.