CAQ-Palliative study guide
CAQ-Palliative · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certificate of Added Qualification (CAQ) in Hospice and Palliative Medicine is a subspecialty credential offered by the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) in conjunction with the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and eight other ABMS member boards. ABIM administers the Hospice and Palliative Medicine exam, and all deadlines align with ABIM's schedule. The CAQ recognizes a family physician's training and knowledge in hospice and palliative medicine, a field focused on relieving suffering and improving quality of life for patients with serious illness and their families. Candidates are typically family physicians who have completed additional training or met practice pathways in hospice and palliative medicine. The exam assesses the breadth of the specialty, including pain and symptom management, communication, psychosocial and spiritual care, ethical and legal issues, and end-of-life care across settings. ABFM offers two assessment routes: a one-day examination and, for continued certification, the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA), developed in partnership with ABIM. Topics on this exam: Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The CAQ-Palliative study guide has 1 section and about 420 words.
01Hospice and Palliative Medicine: Benefit Rules, Prognosis, and Symptom Control
The Hospice and Palliative Medicine domain of the CAQ exam tests whether you can apply Medicare hospice rules, prognosticate reliably, and manage symptoms in seriously ill patients - not merely recite drug names. Many items fuse eligibility criteria with pharmacology, communication, and ethics. Two physicians certify a prognosis of six months or less if the disease follows its usual course; recertification occurs each benefit period, and a face-to-face encounter by a hospice physician or nurse practitioner is required before the third benefit period and every subsequent one. Eligibility rests on clinical data, not a single laboratory value: FAST stage 7c in dementia, NYHA class IV heart failure, or Karnofsky ≤50% with declining function.
420 words, about 2 minMore study resources for CAQ-Palliative
- Practice questionsA patient with advanced pancreatic cancer has severe pain despite scheduled morphine.
- FlashcardsHospice eligibility prognosis. Prognosis of six months or less if the terminal illness runs its normal course, certified by two physicians; the patient elects the hospice benefit and forgoes curative treatment for the terminal diagnosis.
- Cheat sheetPalliative care is interdisciplinary care for serious illness at any stage, delivered alongside curative treatment; hospice is a Medicare benefit for terminal illness with prognosis ≤6 months if disease runs its normal course, requiring forgone curative treatment.
- Key termsTotal pain. The idea that suffering at the end of life includes physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions, so effective relief requires attention to all of them rather than analgesia alone.
- Study planMap the exam blueprint into a one-page topic inventory covering pain, dyspnea, nausea, delirium, and end-of-life communication.
- Common mistakesCandidates trained in acute-care or hospitalist settings reflexively complete the diagnostic workup before treating; the exam deliberately places the patient in the last days of life to test whether the candidate reframes goals of care first.
- Exam-day guideBring the original, unexpired ID with a name matching your registration exactly.