Palliative care in rural Minnesota. Findings from Stratis Health's Minnesota Rural Palliative Care Initiative.

Palliative medicine involves managing symptoms, controlling pain and addressing stress caused by chronic illness. It can help keep patients out of the hospital and allow them to stay in their homes and live more comfortably with their illnesses. Most palliative care programs are found in urban areas, and both national and statewide studies have found a dearth of such services in rural communities. This article describes Stratis Health's Minnesota Rural Palliative Care Initiative, which is bringing representatives from organizations within rural communities together to learn from each other how to provide palliative care services. It also highlightsthe efforts of organizations in four communitiesthat are providing such care and discusses plans for evaluating these and other programs.