Physicians can also work to ensure that their patients have access — in all care settings — to skilled palliative care or, when appropriate, hospice care. We believe that basic palliative care skills should be part of the knowledge base of all physicians caring for people with advanced serious illness or near the end of life. Physicians can also seek out collaboration, whenever possible, with skilled palliative care specialists, whether doctors, nurses, social workers, or clergypersons, to ensure the best possible care of their patients. It has been demonstrated that when palliative care is combined with active treatment for patients with advanced cancer, the quality and duration of life are enhanced.5 All this care should be coordinated, and handoffs should be avoided at critical junctures for patients, such as when they first encounter a chronic illness or a life-threatening disease.