Diane E. Meier, MD

The field of palliative care hasgrown rapidly in recent yearsin response to patient need andclinician interest in effective approachesto managing chronic andlife-threatening illness. The article byKhatcheressian et al reviews the datathat make the case for palliative careas a core component of modern oncologypractice. They point out thatthe issue is not whether we have aquality problem here-it is clear thatwe do. Rather, the focus of this articleis on how best to address that problemin the context of the very real time andfinancial constraints in which we nowpractice oncology in the United States.