Solomon Center Researchers Join Connecticut Pediatric Palliative Care Working Group
Researchers at the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School have been allotted a seat on the advisory committee of the Connecticut Children’s Health, Advocacy, Management and Palliative Care Working Group, known as CHAMP. The research team includes Solomon Center Deputy Director Elle Rothermich and Senior Academic Fellow Eugene Rusyn ’17.
The working group is responsible for making recommendations to the state legislature next year on reforms Connecticut could adopt to increase access to high-quality pediatric palliative care, a specialized form of medical intervention that aims to improve quality of life for both children with serious illnesses and their families. The working group highlighted the Solomon Center’s research in its March 2025 report to the Connecticut General Assembly, which in turn cited the report in June 2025 legislation tasking the working group with developing policy recommendations.
The news comes as Rothermich and Rusyn published a commentary in the Hartford Courant this week calling on lawmakers to expand palliative care coverage and services for the many thousands of Connecticut children and families who need it. The commentary underscores that most insurance plans in the state do not cover pediatric palliative care, forcing families to try to cover high costs out of pocket. It further highlights that care options are limited even for those who can afford them, as Connecticut faces a dearth of palliative care providers.
The commentary builds on a pathbreaking white paper Rusyn, Rothermich, and 2024–25 Solomon Center Research Fellow Wendy Jiang released in June. The report evaluates pediatric palliative care arrangements in other states and puts forward concrete reform proposals that Connecticut could adopt to ensure that children with serious illnesses and their families have access to these vital services — including expanding coverage through Medicaid and/or a fully state-funded program, as well as launching a statewide training initiative to give pediatric providers the tools needed to effectively serve this patient population.
About the Solomon Center
The Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School is the first of its kind to focus on the intersection of law and the governance, practice, and business of health care. The center brings together leading experts and practitioners from the public and private sectors to address cutting-edge questions of health law and policy, and to train the next generation of top health lawyers, industry leaders, policymakers, and academics.
