ORS 413.273 Palliative care for patients and residents of hospitals, long term care facilities and residential care facilities

As used in this section and ORS 413.270 and 413.271:

“Appropriate” means consistent with applicable legal, health and professional standards, a patient’s clinical and other circumstances, and the patient’s known wishes and beliefs.

“Health facility” includes:

Hospitals and long term care facilities licensed under ORS 441.025; and

Residential facilities licensed under ORS 443.415.

“Medical care” means professional services for a patient that are provided, requested or supervised by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician associate.

“Palliative care” means patient-centered and family-centered medical care that optimizes a patient’s quality of life by anticipating, preventing and treating the suffering caused by serious illness and involves addressing the patient’s physical, social and spiritual needs and facilitating the patient’s autonomy, access to information and choice.

“Palliative care” includes, but is not limited to:

Discussing a patient’s goals for treatment;

Discussing the treatment options that are appropriate for the patient; and

Comprehensive pain and symptom management.

“Serious illness” means any illness, physical injury or condition that substantially impairs a patient’s quality of life for more than a short period of time.

A health facility shall:

Establish a system for identifying patients or residents who could benefit from palliative care;

Provide information to patients, residents and their families about palliative care; and

Coordinate with a patient’s or resident’s primary care provider, if practicable, to facilitate the access of patients and residents with serious illnesses to appropriate palliative care.