Medicare and End of Life Counseling

A back and forth week last week concerning a Medicare policy allowing for physicians to provide voluntary end of life counseling for their patients. The provision went into effect January 1, 2011, then was abruptly withdrawn only a few days later.

Below are links to media coverage of these developments and a podcast featuring John Carney of the Center for Practical Bioethics talking about the future of advance care planning.

The Center continues to support families making practical preparations for care during a serious illness or at the end of life. For more click here.

Podcast: The Bioethics Channel

End of Life Scare 2011
John Carney

January 7, 2011

Now you have it, now you don't. It's the Medicare policy that would have paid for end of life counseling as part of an annual wellness visit. John Carney of the Center for Practical Bioethics explains what led to the withdrawal of the provision and where end of life counseling goes from here.

Links:

U.S. Alters Rule on Paying for End-of-Life Planning, Robert Pear, New York Times, January 4

Death panels? No, but bad medicine anyway: Obamacare's end-of-life mistake, Dr. Marc Siegel, New York Daily News, January 2

Don’t reignite ‘death panel’ insanity, Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star, January 4