NORTHPORT, ME – In remarks delivered at the 19^th Annual Maine Pain Symposium in Northport today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) praised Maine’s palliative and hospice care professionals for their work to provide exceptional end-of-life and pain management care services and pledged to continue to work alongside them as they strive to also fight the opioid epidemic hammering the state. To that end, Senator King announced his support for The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act, bipartisan legislation that would improve the training of health professionals in palliative and hospice care to keep pace with patient need and help enhance the well-being of Americans with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

            “For decades, Maine’s palliative and hospice care professionals have provided extraordinary end-of-life care and support for families across the state. And as I heard at the symposium today, they also understand how the management of chronic pain has contributed to an opioid crisis in our state, and I am committed to working alongside them in pursuit of more tailored prescribing practices that can reduce dependence and illicit drug use,” Senator King said. “It’s critical, however, that as we fight the opioid epidemic, we don’t develop policies that create barriers for health care providers as they seek to properly manage end-of-life pain for patients and families in Maine. We can and we should strike the appropriate balance, and the legislation I am supporting would help provide the training and workforce development needed to help do that.”

Palliative and hospice care focus on relieving and preventing patients’ suffering and improving their quality of life. This team-based approach focuses on the patients’ needs, explains treatment options and gives patients and their families a voice in realizing their treatment goals. Palliative care has been widely embraced in Maine as a critical component of high quality health care.

The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA) would strengthen training for new and existing physicians, those who teach palliative care, and other providers who are part of the palliative care team to give patients and their families a voice in their care and treatment goals. It also boosts palliative care research and provides academic and career awards to incentivize practice and study of palliative and hospice care. More specifically, the legislation would:

·         Improve Workforce Development: Establishes fellowship programs within new Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers to provide short-term intensive courses focused on palliative care. By supporting the team approach to palliative care, the fellowships will provide supplemental training for faculty members in medical schools and other health professions schools, including pharmacy, nursing, social work, chaplaincy and other allied health disciplines in an accredited health professions school or program. Providers who do not have formal training in palliative care will be able to upgrade their knowledge and skills for the care of individuals with serious or life-threatening illness as well as enhance their interdisciplinary teaching skills.

·         Establish Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers: Establishes Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers to improve the training of interdisciplinary health professionals in palliative care; develop and disseminate curricula relating to palliative care; support the training and retraining of faculty; support continuing education; provide students with clinical training in appropriate sites of care; and provide traineeships for advanced practice nurses.

·         Improve Physician Training: Establishes grants or contracts to schools of medicine, teaching hospitals and graduate medical education programs to train physicians who plan to teach palliative medicine. Programs will be required to develop specific performance-based measures to evaluate the competency of trainees.

·         Improve Nurse Training: Creates incentives for hospice and palliative nursing, in education, practice and quality grants, workforce development, and nurse retention projects.

·         Enhance Research: Directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use existing authorities and funds to expand palliative care research to advance clinical practice and improve care delivery for patients with serious or life-threatening illness.

·         Increase Palliative Care Education and Awareness: Establishes a national campaign to inform patients, families and health professionals about the benefits of palliative care and the services that are available to support patients with serious or life-threatening illness. The bill also supports the promotion of information, resources and materials about palliative care services to health professionals and the public.

·         Create Academic Career Awards: Establishes a program to promote the career development of physicians who are board certified or board eligible in hospice and palliative medicine and have a junior, non-tenured faculty appointment at an accredited school of medicine.

·         Provide Career Incentive Awards: Provides grants or contracts for eligible health professionals, such as advanced practice nurses, social workers, physician assistants, pharmacists, or students of psychology, who agree to teach or practice in the field of palliative care for at least 5 years.

Today’s symposium was titled “Palliative Care & Pain Management: A Responsibility to Do Better” Senator King’s pledge today to work with palliative and hospice care professionals came as he continues to engage people across Maine in order to further understanding and action in the fight against addiction. He has convened four roundtable discussions in Brewer, Portland, Bangor, and Paris focusing on developing a comprehensive approach to addressing the opioid and heroin epidemics that includes prevention, treatment, and law enforcement measures. The roundtable at MaineHealth in Portland focused on ways close the prescription painkillers to opioid addiction gateway.

Prior to speaking in Northport, Senator King also visited and toured two storied Maine shipyards – Washburn & Doughty Shipyard and Boothbay Harbor Shipyard – where he discussed the importance of the maritime industry and marine trades to Maine’s economy. Senator King recently wrote to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development to express his strong support and urge robust funding for the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Small Shipyard Grant Program, which provides federal grants to support the operation of small shipyards across the country. Both Washburn & Doughty and Boothbay Harbor Shipyard have recently benefited from grants through the program.

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