Quality Guidelines, Standards, and Measures

Program Standards & Guidelines

• A National Framework and Preferred Practices for Palliative and Hospice Care Quality (National Quality Forum [NQF], 2006)
• (P) Four articles in the Journal of Palliative Medicine set out consensus recommendations for how to implement the NQF Framework and Preferred Practices.
  • Operational Features (November 2008)
  • Consultation Service Metrics (December 2008)
  • Inpatient Palliative Care Operational Metrics (January 2009)
  • Clinical Care and Customer Satisfaction Metrics (February 2010)
• (H) Accreditation for hospice programs is offered by several organizations. The specific standards used by these accrediting organizations are only available as part of proprietary material. See each organization's website:
  • The Joint Commission (TJC; formerly JCAHO)—hospices are accredited under the Home Health standards
  • Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP)
  • (H) Pediatric Hospice—NHPCO has released standards of practice for pediatric palliative care

Clinical Guidelines with Specific Palliative Care Content

The National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care's Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care 4th edition (2018) is available online.

COMING SOON. AAHPM's Quality & Practice Standards Task Force plans to develop a resource list of clinical guidelines that are notable for their usefulness to hospice and palliative medicine practitioners in various settings. We need your help to develop this resource list. Please fill out the HPM Quality Community form to submit suggestions and recommendations for guidelines to add to this page.

Indicator Sets and Measurement Tools

• National Quality Forum Quality Positioning System (QPS)—a search tool to find NQF endorsed measures. Search for "Hospice and Palliative Care."
• The AMA's Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI); AAHPM participates
  • PCPI measure list (scroll down to find the Palliative Care Measure set)
• VA Family Assessment of Treatment at End of Life Short Form (FATE-S)
• The final report of the National Quality Forum project, National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care

Please contact Katherine Ast, MSW LCSW, Director of Quality and Research, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 847.375.4818.