California Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) Waiver: Evaluation Report
This report is an independent evaluation of the operational, financial, clinical, and humanistic outcomes of the Pediatric Palliative Care Waiver, a three-year pilot program to improve the quality of life for children eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal and their families through the provision of supportive home-based services, and to minimize hospitalization and length of stay through the use of community-based care. The report examines the operation and financial impact of the program, details utilization rates as well as the effect on patients’ and families’ well-being. Analysis of the three-year pilot suggests that California’s Pediatric Palliative Care Waiver demonstrated a cost-effective way to provide home-based palliative care to children with life-threatening conditions that was satisfying to most enrollees’ primary caregivers and their health care providers.
Publication Authors:
- Daphna Gans, PhD
- Max W. Hadler, MPH, MA
- Xiao Chen, PhD
- Shang-Hua Wu, MS
- Allison L. Diamant, MD, MSHS
- Dylan H. Roby, PhD
- Gerald F. Kominski, Ph.D.