The Center for Healthcare Decisions is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization based near Sacramento, California. Established in 1994 as Sacramento Healthcare Decisions, we began our work with two local projects focusing on healthcare reform and end-of-life care.

Our first project related to the Clinton healthcare reform debate.  Exploring personal and societal values, we helped develop an eight-part series in The Sacramento Bee called the Heart of Health Care. We also launched the ECHO Project, bringing together 1,000 community members and healthcare professionals in a three-year effort to improve care at the end-of-life. This endeavor sparked tangible changes in local hospitals and became a national model of community collaboration.  The ECHO Project also led to the creation of two other organizations that provide enduring leadership in end-of-life care:

Coalition for Compassionate Care of California is a statewide partnership of more than 95 regional and statewide organizations promoting high-quality, compassionate end-of-life care for all Californians.

The Compassionate Care Alliance of the Greater Sacramento Region is a non-profit coalition of healthcare professionals, educators and community members encouraging dialogue about end-of-life issues.

Today, our reach has broadened. The Center for Healthcare Decisions works to shed light on some of the most difficult policy questions that society faces—not just locally but across the state and country.