Patients meeting entry criteria will be randomized to the intervention arm, palliative care plus usual care, or the usual care arm. Patients randomized to the intervention arm will receive usual oncologic care and phone calls from a nurse. Outcome measures will be collected at baseline and at the end of the patients' primary cancer treatment. The study will be performed at the Puget Sound Health Care System, Birmingham VA and Portland VA. The investigators will recruit individuals (n=138) with lung cancer over 2.5 years. The primary objective is to determine the efficacy of the nurse-led telephone-based palliative intervention on improving patients' quality of life, symptom burden, and satisfaction of care. In addition, using validated instruments, the investigators will assess the effect of the intervention on patient activation to discuss treatment preferences with their clinician and on clinician knowledge of patients' goals of care. The results of this study will inform a future effectiveness/implementation study.
