Seriously ill patients are more likely to receive palliative care if they have more providers in their vicinity.
Adults in the United States with stage IV cancer were more likely to receive care in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, researchers from the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Those who dwell in socioeconomically deprived areas, the South, or who receive care at community facilities had less access to palliative care physicians than their counterparts in other areas.
The findings were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium in Boston.
“Researchers suggest that the overall low receipt of this recommended care may potentially reflect inadequate access to palliative care providers nationwide,” ACS indicated in a press release. “They emphasized that these findings support the need for strategies to increase the number of palliative care physicians, especially in rural and socioeconomically deprived areas, to enhance the accessibility of guideline-recommended palliative care.”
A research team led by Qinjin Fan, senior scientist of health services research at ACS, examined National Cancer Database data for more than 333,000 adults who had been newly diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2018 and 2019 in the contiguous United States.
They determined accessibility by comparing these records with data on the locations of Medicare-certified physicians who specialize in hospice and palliative care. The researchers then looked at data showing whether or not the patients received palliative treatments.
The study comes at a time of renewed focus on health equity among providers and government agencies.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated last year that health equity will be a key component of their payment model demonstrations going forward. To date, programs that have health equity components include the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH) program and the value-based insurance design (VBID) model demonstration.
“True quality cannot exist without equity. For too long, the systemic disparities have resulted in underserved communities having limited access to preventative screenings, diagnostic services, and treatments across race, gender, income, geography, and other demographics,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in 2022. “Health outcomes are unequal. Our drive to high-quality care is directly intertwined with the vision for health equity.”
