Cardiac Palliative Medicine

Purpose of Review: Heart failure is an illness with high morbidity and mortality that affects 5.7 million Americans. As advanced heart therapies become more prevalent care for patients and families is becoming more complex. The American Heart Association has released a policy statement recommending continuous, high-quality access to palliative care for all patients with heart failure, and the Center for Medicare Services requires palliative care involvement in mechanical circulatory support teams. Recent Findings: The National Quality Forum developed eight domains of palliative care that are required for high-quality delivery of comprehensive palliative care. This article assesses each domain and how it pertains to evolving care of patients with advanced heart failure. Summary: Leadership from heart failure teams should review the domains of palliative care to ensure they are improving primary palliative care skills as well as identifying areas needed to improve funding so that patients have access to comprehensive specialty level palliative care. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.