Bridging Gaps in Palliative Care: Personalizing Care in Diverse Communities

Statement of Need

Palliative care is an underutilized health care service, especially in underserved communities, often because patients, their families, and health care professionals (HCPs) have misperceptions about it and are unclear about the services it provides. Palliative care, which is available at any stage of disease and is not the same as hospice, aims to provide individualized support throughout the course of an illness by addressing patients’ unique physical, psychological, spiritual, cultural, social, environmental, and medical needs. However, underserved communities often have barriers to access due to location and lack of coordination of care. Additionally, patients can be deterred by poor experiences with HCPs who do not provide culturally sensitive support. HCPs who are educated on a palliative care model that uses a multidisciplinary team approach and emphasizes cultural sensitivity, effective patient education, and improving collaboration with community services can have a lasting impact on palliative care delivery, especially in underserved communities.

In this CME Outfitters Snack, part of a collection on health access and social responsibility, expert faculty will identify factors that contribute to disparities in palliative care access and utilization for underserved communities and will develop actionable strategies for the multidisciplinary care team to provide personalized palliative care that considers social drivers of health and patient culture.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, learners will be able to better:

Identify factors that contribute to disparities in palliative care access and utilization for underserved communities
Develop actionable strategies for the multidisciplinary care team to provide personalized palliative care that considers social drivers of health and patient culture

Financial Support

This program is supported by an independent medical education grant from CVS Health.

Target Audience

Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physician associates (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and other applicable health care clinicians

Credit Information

Jointly Accredited Provider

In support of improving patient care, CME Outfitters, LLC, is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physicians (ACCME) 1.0

CME Outfitters, LLC, designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Pharmacists (ACPE) 1.0

This application-based activity is approved for 1.0 contact hours (1.0 CEUs) of continuing pharmacy credit (JA0007185-0000-25-049-H99-P).

Pharmacists/Pharmacy Tech (ACPE) 1.0

This application-based activity is approved for 1.0 contact hours (1.0 CEUs) of continuing pharmacy credit (JA0007185-0000-25-049-H99-T).

Nurses (ANCC) 1.0

This activity is designated for 1.0 contact hours.

California Residents: Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider # CEP 15510, for 1.0 Contact Hours.

Physician Assistants (AAPA): 1.0

CME Outfitters, LLC, has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 1.0 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid until 04/15/2027. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.

Social Work (ACE) 1.0

As a Jointly Accredited Organization, CME Outfitters, LLC is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. Social workers completing this course receive 1.00 continuing education credits.

ABIM MOC 1.0

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.0 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

MIPS Improvement Activity

Completion of this accredited CME activity meets the expectations of an Accredited Safety or Quality Improvement Program (IA_PSPA_28) for the Merit-based Incentive Payment Program (MIPS). Clinicians should submit their improvement activities by attestation via the CMS Quality Payment Program website.

Royal College MOC

Through an agreement between the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, medical practitioners participating in the Royal College MOC Program may record completion of accredited activities registered under the ACCME’s “CME in Support of MOC” program in Section 3 of the Royal College’s MOC Program.

Case Management (CCMC) 1.0

This program has been pre-approved by The Commission for Case Manager Certification to provide continuing education credit to CCM® board certified case managers. The course is approved for 1.00 CE contact hour(s). Activity code and Approval number will be awarded on your certificate of completion.

Disclosure Declaration

It is the policy of CME Outfitters, LLC, to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, and scientific rigor and integrity in all of their CE activities. Faculty must disclose to the participants any relationships with commercial companies whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, or with the commercial supporter of this CE activity. CME Outfitters, LLC, has evaluated, identified, and mitigated any potential conflicts of interest through a rigorous content validation procedure, use of evidence-based data/research, and a multidisciplinary peer review process. The following information is for participant information only. It is not assumed that these relationships will have a negative impact on the presentations.

Dr. Peek reports no financial relationships to disclose.

Dr. Bullock reports no financial relationships to disclose.

The following individuals have no financial relationships to disclose:

Rebecca Vargas-Jackson, MD (Peer Reviewer)
Albert Eubanks, Jr., RN (Peer Reviewer)
Keshia Pitt, PhD (Planning Committee)
Carrie Allen, PharmD, BCPS (Planning Committee)
Scott J. Hershman, MD, FACEHP, CHCP (Planning Committee)
Sandra Caballero, PharmD (Planning Committee)
Sharon Tordoff (Planning Committee)

*All identified conflicts of interest have been mitigated

Unlabeled Use Disclosure
Faculty of this CME/CE activity may include discussions of products or devices that are not currently labeled for use by the FDA. The faculty have been informed of their responsibility to disclose to the audience if they will be discussing off-label or investigational uses (any uses not approved by the FDA) of products or devices. CME Outfitters, LLC, the faculty, planners, and reviewers do not endorse the use of any product outside of the FDA labeled indications. Medical professionals should not utilize the procedures, products, or diagnosis techniques discussed during this activity without evaluation of their patient for contraindications or dangers of use.

Obtaining Credit

Post-tests, credit request forms, and activity evaluations must be completed online (requires free account activation), and participants can print their certificate or statement of credit immediately (70% pass rate required). This website supports all browsers except Internet Explorer for Mac.

Questions about this activity?

Call us at 877.CME.PROS (877.263.7767).

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