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Updated February 17, 2005
Hospice of the Valley, in collaboration with six
large Phoenix, AZ-area managed care organizations, has
launched PhoenixCare, a program that cares for patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.
PhoenixCare is reducing the fragmented nature of care, which currently forces patients to choose between life-prolonging care and hospice or palliative care during times when both are needed. The program provides case management services and improved communication among clinicians in hospitals, hospice and home-based services, and provides three levels of care, offering psychosocial support through the end of life.
This program measures its ability to deliver a continuum of palliative care focused on comfort and quality of life for patients whose illnesses cannot be cured. PhoenixCare's program includes a three-tier care approach to care including supportive care, enhanced care and hospice care, all funded by patients' existing health plans or Medicare benefits, through in-kind contributions from the managed care organizations or as charitable services provided by Hospice of the Valley.
Patients who are diagnosed with a progressive, incurable illness enter the system on tier one with supportive care. They, along with their families, receive education concerning end-of-life decisions and symptom management. Those services expand to enhanced care in tier two, providing more comprehensive anticipatory guidance and symptom management, as the patient's condition advances.
Hospice Care is offered to patients and families as the illness enters a terminal phase and the end of life approaches.
Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care is a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dedicated to long-term changes in health care institutions to substantially improve care for dying people and their families. Visit PromotingExcellence.org for more resources.
