Longitudinal specialty palliative care for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using a universal referral method

Abstract

To the Editor, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that results in physical progressive decline and is uniformly fatal. 1 The benefits of specialty palliative care (PC) for people with ALS (pALS) have been previously described, leading to increasing PC integration in the outpatient setting. [2][3][4][5] In our prior study, we investigated the feasibility and utility of referral of all pALS to a PC specialist in a multidisciplinary clinic, which we called a "universal referral model." 2 Within the first visit, patients were willing and able to engage in advance care planning (ACP). In this letter, we share the longitudinal impact of this universal referral model on ACP and goals of care (GOC).