Nikki Davis, DNP, ACHPN, VP of Palliative Care Programs

At its inception, palliative care was interwoven with the hospice movement, and because of this it is often perceived as solely a component of hospice care. However, palliative care and the interventions it provides have expanded in scope to include much more than end-of-life care.  Today, palliative care is becoming recognized as a key component of complex chronic disease management and its utility is rapidly expanding as providers and payers are discovering the benefits of implementing it. For palliative care to have maximum impact on outcomes and quality of life for patients, ideally it should be introduced as early as…