How to Provide Effective Safety-Net Palliative Care

When vulnerable populations experience serious illness, the quality of their care is more likely to be shaped by forces beyond their control: access, social support, health literacy, and financial resources. Additionally, the clinical care they receive is often misaligned with their backgrounds, needs, and goals. To discover new ways to address these issues, we must see the problem and solution in new ways.

In this webinar*, we will discuss the challenges of providing safety net palliative care, including the person, social, and system levels. Answers to these challenges include rethinking conventional palliative care in three population-specific areas: needs assessment, clinical skills, and care models. With these factors in mind, a more comprehensive model will be described, which addresses medical, behavioral health, housing, and social supports – using CareOregon’s experience in providing outpatient palliative care to Portland's most complex patients.

*The webinar is based off of this article.