More than 2 million people die each year in the United States. Yet, surprisingly, end-oflife health care delivery and financing mechanisms are largely patchwork and little understood by most Americans. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) Initiative and Last Acts® Campaign co-sponsored a conference that brought together private and public policymakers, researchers, and providers to bring the complex issues associated with end-of-life care to the forefront of the health care agenda. The meeting yielded a series of thoughtful presentations and stimulating discussions that helped identify the role that public policy plays in organizing, delivering, and financing end-of-life care.
