Final Report – Patient Centered Care and Human Mortality. Health Care Quality and Cost Council. Retrieved from http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=hqccterminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=The+Council&L2=About+the+Council&L3=Meeting+Schedule+and+Materials&L4=Expert+Panel+on+End+of+Life+Care&sid=Ihqcc&b=terminalcontent&f=Expert_Panel_End_of_Life_Care_expert_panel_final_report&csid=Ihqcc#vision.

This report focuses on importance of planning for end-of-life care. It seeks to help healthcare managers, policy makers, government officials, and healthcare consumers achieve the following goals:

1. “Inform and Empower (healthcare users);
2. Support A Health Care System that Ensures High-Quality Patient-Centered Care;
3. Ensure A Knowledgeable, Competent, and Compassionate Workforce;
4. Create Financing Structures that Promote Patient-Centered Care;
5. Create A Responsible Entity to Ensure Excellence and Accountability;
6. Employ Quality Indicators and Performance Measurement.”

The report advocates finding out what patients really want and meeting these wants through advance care planning, palliative care systems, and hospice planning. This approach improves overall quality of life for patients and helps families and friends overcome loss.