July 14, 2025

Ep. 509 A Future Path for Hospice and Palliative Care with Ira Byock MD

57 minutes

Learn about Dr. Ira Byock’s strategic vision for approaching the major issues facing hospice and palliative care.

My guest Dr. Ira Byock is a leading palliative care physician, author, and public advocate for improving care through the end of life. He is the author of the books Dying Well, The Four Things that Matter Most, and The Best Care Possible. He discusses his recent white paper “A Strategic Path Forward for Hospice and Palliative Care” and his 4-point approach for dealing with the current issues facing end-of-life care in the U.S. Learn more at his website and read the paper below:

irabyock.org

Read the Paper here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

Why it’s important for insiders in the field of end-of-life care to honestly face the current crisis and the grief we are experiencing

Fraud and abuse is a significant problem in hospice care today

There is a high variability in quality of care in hospice

Palliative care services are inconsistent across the country

Leaders in the field are not addressing the problems in the field

70% of hospices are for-profit; profit needs to be tied to quality of care

There must be zero tolerance of fraud and abuse in end-of-life care

4 elements of Dr. Byock’s strategic plan

Links mentioned in this episode:

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