Recently New Jersey passed two bills to improve access to palliative and end-of-life care. The bills will support patients and professionals with more information, trained personnel and improved screening to make sure the right care is provided.
What do the bills include exactly?
Bill A-4685 focuses on improving the screening process of patients. The screening process needs to be more thorough in order to identify a patient’s needs whether is palliative care or another alternative.
Bill A-4683 includes assisted living facilities, dementia care facilities, hospitals and long-term care facilities and is meant to stimulate education on advanced care planning and end-of-life care for administrative and professional medical staff. This will help in providing families with appropriate educational materials.
According to InsiderNJ over 40 million adults throughout the United States suffered from a serious illness within the past three years and nearly 20 million are suffering from chronic pain, which interferes with their daily lives. The passing of the two bills are another step in palliative and end-of-life care, which are needed as prognoses show the increasing need for both types of care worldwide.
