NHPCO Endorses the Children’s Program of All-Inclusive Coordinated Care (ChiPACC) Act of 2021
For Immediate Release:
November 30, 2021
(Alexandria, Va) – The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) endorsed the Children’s Program of All-Inclusive Coordinated Care (ChiPACC) Act of 2021 (H.R. 4952), introduced by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Michael McCaul (R-TX). The bill will allow patients under 21 years of age receiving Medicaid-supported treatment for serious illnesses to access specialized, patient-centered, interdisciplinary palliative care focused on easing pain and discomfort, reducing stress, and improving quality of life, while continuing to pursue cure-seeking treatments.
As the country wraps up National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a period in which communities and leaders across honored the essential nature of hospice and palliative care, NHPCO noted that ChiPACC removes barriers to a children’s program of all-inclusive coordinated care, including the current separation of curative and palliative treatments, as well as a requirement that hospice care only be provided for patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live.
“When families face something as tremendously difficult as the serious illness of a child, they should not have to worry about whether their child is getting the care they deserve,” said Edo Banach, NHPCO President and CEO. “We can remove parents’ and patients’ burden of having to choose between hoping for a cure and benefiting from palliative care, when it’s clear they should have both.”
“Thank you to Representatives Diana DeGette and Michael McCaul for their leadership in pioneering access to palliative care for children experiencing serious illness,” Banach continued. “For more than 40 years, hospices around the country have developed a patient-centered, interdisciplinary model of care focused on supporting patients at the end of life and their families. The lessons from that model can and should be applied to palliative care with life-improving outcomes for patients with serious illnesses. NHPCO will continue working with elected officials to expand access to interdisciplinary patient-centered palliative care through ChiPACC and other changes to Medicare and Medicaid.”
Learn more about NHPCO’s efforts to advance pediatric hospice and palliative care.
-###-
Take action: Congress is considering leaving town for Christmas without preventing massive cuts to Medicare. Call on your Member of Congress to stop these cuts to hospice now. Hospice Action Network’s legislative action center makes it easy. Visit https://www.hospiceactionnetwork.org/take-action/#/59
Contact:
Jon Radulovic
Communications
Ph: 571-412-3973