Expanding Access to Palliative Care Act

This bill requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to test a model that provides community-based palliative care and care coordination for high-risk Medicare beneficiaries and that may replace the Medicare Care Choices Model (currently set to expire on December 31, 2021).

Under the new model, multi-disciplinary teams must provide coordinated, palliative care that is available 24-7 for Medicare beneficiaries with serious illnesses or injuries, such as cancer. The CMMI must evaluate the model by comparing patients participating in the model with those outside of the model in relation to specified metrics, including the election and duration of hospice care.