On July 22, 2025, the Patient Quality of Life Coalition (PQLC) hosted its Lobby Day in Washington DC to advance the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA). This bipartisan legislation was re-introduced to the Senate (S.2287) on July 15 by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.VA.) and to the House (HR4425) on July 16 by Representatives Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-Georgia) and Dr. Ami Bera (D-Calif.).
These bills would:
- Grow the interdisciplinary palliative care workforce through training, faculty grants, career awards, and fellowship programs.
- Increase awareness of palliative care by establishing a national campaign to inform patients, caregivers and health professional about the benefits of palliative care.
- Bolster research by coordinating efforts across the National Institutes of Health.
PQLC, along with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) offered travel scholarships for advocates from targeted states, which included South Dakota. Specifically, PQLC and ACS CAN wanted to ensure that Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) was thanked for being a co-sponsor of the bill while encouraging his continued support of the bill.
Representing South Dakota and LifeCircle-South Dakota’s Hospice Care and Palliative Care Network was Dr. Amanda Sedlacek, pictured with Sen. Rounds. She has been an active member of LifeCircle since 2022. Dr. Sedlacek is board certified in internal medicine and palliative care. She currently practices as a specialty palliative care physician at the Yankton Medical Clinic, P.C. in Yankton SD. Also pictured with Dr. Sedlacek is Crystal Enstad. She represented the local Oncology Nurses Society chapter in her role as president. Crystal is a nurse with Sanford Health and is the oncology clinic and infusion manager.
Dr. Sedlacek is committed to palliative care education, making her a perfect advocate for PCHETA. She instructed the Interdisciplinary Palliative Care (IPC) Seminar hosted by the University of South Dakota’s Interprofessional Health Education Center from 2020 until the program closed in 2024. The IPC had over 20 years of educating interdisciplinary students on primary palliative care across the state. It transitioned from in person locations in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, to a virtual, statewide platform with sim lab thanks to COVID-19.
Currently, there is no university based palliative care or hospice care training offered in South Dakota which likely contributes to the low number of specialty trained clinicians in the state. According to the American Board of Medical Specialty’s 2022-2023 board report, South Dakota has 16 physicians board certified in hospice and palliative care. Other clinicians with specialty certification* from the 2025 Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center data include:
- Advance Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurses(ACHPN)- 11
- Advance Palliative and Hospice Social Workers Certified** (APHSW-C)-2
- Certified Hospice and Palliative Licensed Nurses (CHPLN)-2
- Certified Hospice Palliative Nurses (CHPN)- 32
The 2023 Statistical Profile of Board Certified Physician Assistants (PAs) by State annual report, there are no PAs with a Certification of Added Qualification in hospice and palliative care- a certification that was added that year.
According to the Center to Advance Palliative Care 2024 Serious Illness Scorecard, South Dakota’s 26 certified prescribing palliative care providers is likely insufficient to meet the palliative care needs in our state. Also mentioned in the report is that “educating non-palliative care prescribers on primary palliative care basics for people with serious illness is one strategy to complement our specialty palliative care workforce.” Also having a HPM fellowship program could improve “future access to high-quality palliative care in our state.”
A bill like PCHETA may increase the number of interdisciplinary hospice and palliative care trained clinicians in our state making this specialty care more accessible for those living with serious illness and their care partners.
*Pharmacists and chaplains can also obtain specialty certification. There is no registry for that data
**The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) offers Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Social Worker (ACHP-SW) certification for social workers based on experience rather than a certification exam. There is no data available from NASW that indicates how many social workers in South Dakota are certified through them.
