Wednesday, December 13, 2000
10:00 AM
Minnesota Partnership to Improve End of Life Care

Minnesota Commission on End of Life Care Access Sub-Committee

Attendees: Ellie Hands, MHO; Karen Gervais, MN Center for Healthcare Ethics; Linda Norlander, MN Partnership

Notes: Brenda Paul, MN Partnership

Quick review of small group meeting from the November 9^th Commission on End of Life Care meeting:

At the November 9, 2000 Commission meeting the group broke into 4 small groups (access, standards, education and public policy) and each small group was charged with selecting one issue around which a recommendation could be made.

The Access Small Group decided to focus on the issue of improving access to end of life sevices.

All Minnesotans should have access to end of life services.

• The access group decided to form a database of at least semi-formal end of life programs around the state and certified end of life nurses and doctors. This could lead to a resource guide of established end of life programs.
• The group also decided to look at what the established medical system can do to aid other cultures in their care for dying persons.
• The group also decided to examine the characteristics of geographic areas where end of life programs are not offered with the hope of connecting these areas with already existing end of life services.
• Another idea to improving access to end of life services is the possibility of a risk pool, where several hospice programs band together to insure themselves against bankruptcy due to a costly patient. This would be dependent on the findings from the geographic barriers to hospice services.

Tasks for the Access Small Group and the MN Partnership Staff:

• Karen Gervais will try to establish contacts with members of three minority groups: Hmong, Latino and African-American.
• Linda Norlander will contact Care Providers, MHHP and the Dept. of Health to begin working on the database of established end of life programs around the state.
• Ellie Hands will examine the geographic barriers to end of life care and discover first which areas of the state are not served by an established hospice program.

Meeting adjourned at 4:30 AM

Next Meeting – To be determined