The Development of Palliative Care in the U.S.

This short report provides a synopsis of the development of palliative care in the U.S. over the last 50 years.

It includes a description of its beginnings in the early 1970s, influenced by hospice care in the United Kingdom; the impact of the 1982 Medicare hospice benefit on the field; the move to broaden its reach to people who were not terminally ill; and the role of foundations in helping establish this new field.

The report also discusses how advocates made the business case for hospice and palliative care coverage to hospitals and the medical community drove standards for the field. And it covers how advocates built public awareness and support for palliative care by removing dying and hospice from descriptions.

Atlantic commissioned this report.