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Health insurance plans should provide adequate coverage for hospice care. 

The federal government should play a strong role in protecting patient rights to direct their care and make other decisions.

The federal government and states should encourage advance care planning. They should establish and support decision-making protocols such as Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment.

While the FDA focuses most of its energies on the pre-market review process for approving devices, it should not neglect the post-market surveillance system.

Policymakers should ensure that the FDA’s process for approval and oversight of medical devices to protect public health and safety is thorough, efficient, and not unduly burdensome. 

Device companies should be prohibited from promoting a device for uses not approved by the FDA. 

Congress should enact legislation that would provide patients with legal recourse if they are injured by a defective or malfunctioning implanted medical device. 

Policymakers should increase transparency and competition in the market for medical devices.