Development of Palliative Care Quality Measures for Outpatients in a Clinic-Based Setting: A Report on Information Gathering Activities.

Palliative care has expanded rapidly in recent years. Hence, there has been a growing awareness of and emphasis on the importance of developing quality measures specific to palliative care. This article describes information-gathering activities conducted by RAND to develop two measures of palliative care quality for patients receiving such care in outpatient, clinic-based settings. The authors describe the consensus that has developed for measurement priorities in the palliative care community, provide a summary of clinical practice guidelines, and review the evidence base for palliative care. The authors also review current relevant regulations, existing measures of patient and caregiver experience, findings from a gap analysis on palliative care assessment, and findings from provider focus groups and interviews with patients and caregivers or family members.