This chapter examines a paradox of GroupCare Hospital's palliative care program. On the one hand, GroupCare created a space for intimacy, honesty, and personal connection that has become exceedingly rare in the U.S. medical system. On the other hand, GroupCare considered the palliative care program to be consistent with its goal of “appropriate utilization” and likely would not have invested such resources in the program had it not been seen as economically efficient. This chapter shows that the staff at GroupCare tended to believe that through evidence-based medicine, technical savvy, and systems integration, it could make the mission of health care and the market for health care consistent with and supportive of one another. It also considers how GroupCare seemed to have succeeded in taming the market for hospital care and aligning the health of its membership with the economic interests of the organization and the practitioners within it.
Suggestions and recommendations from health care professionals involved in regional palliative care program
