With the increasing health care needs of an ageing population and the projected shortfall in the US healthcare workforce, an increasing number of patients with advanced complex illness will require care at home. Up to 90 percent of this care is provided by unpaid family or informal caregivers. Caregiver stress is a challenge for both family caregivers and members of the health care team responsible for medical care. Using clinical cases, the authors describe an innovative health service delivery model that links specialty palliative care services provided by palliative care certified registered nurse practitioners (CRNPs) to the patient\u27s primary and specialty physicians. Optimizing Advanced Complex Illness Support (OACIS) is an interdisciplinary program that provides inpatient, outpatient and home-based palliative care services, and also serves as a platform for the support of both family and professional caregivers
