Though access to palliative care (PC) has generally expanded in recent years, utilization of these services remains low among patients with various types of advanced cancers.
Researchers from the American Cancer Society recently studied palliative care utilization trends among cancer patients with an aim to examine the impacts of earlier integration of these services. Researchers included those from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health, among others.
The researchers examined Medicare claims data of beneficiaries 65 and older with recent cancer diagnoses who were given a six-month life expectancy prognosis between 2010 and 2019. Patients included those with advanced stage breast, colorectal, non-small cell lung (NSCL), small cell lung (SCL), pancreas and prostate cancer.
“Despite considerable growth in early PC receipt, utilization remained low in 2019,” the researchers wrote in the study.
The study spanned 103,045 patients receiving health care by 25,736 unique providers and from 11,163 organizations. An estimated 10.64% of cancer patients received earlier access to palliative care within 180 days of their cancer diagnosis in 2019, a small increase from 0.98% in 2010, the research found.
The research identified disparities in those referred to and accessing palliative care. For instance, patients with prostate cancer utilized palliative care services at lower rates compared to those with other types, such as breast or pancreatic cancer.
Additionally, researchers found variations in palliative care referrals at the provider and organizational levels.
The researchers stressed that the large variation between providers and organizations suggest “important, modifiable” provider behaviors and organizational characteristics in early palliative care receipt in a recent statement.
Greater research efforts are needed to improve earlier access and utilization of palliative care, the researchers indicated.
“The large variation between providers and organizations suggests important modifiable provider behaviors and organizational characteristics in early PC use, which warrant future research,” the researchers stated in the study. “Early integration of palliative care (PC) is recommended for advanced cancers, but evidence of its use and the role of provider practice patterns and organizational characteristics in uptake is limited.”
