Study: Analytics Boosted Palliative Consults 74%

Researchers at Penn Medicine, a component of the University of Pennsylvania, have developed a predictive analytics system that increased the organization’s number of palliative care consultations by 74%. The system, called Palliative Connect, extracts clinical data from an organization’s electronic medical records and uses machine learning to analyze 30 factors of a patient’s likely prognosis […]

Hospice Leads to Higher Satisfaction for Kidney Disease Patients

Care focused on extending life rather than comfort among patients with advanced chronic kidney disease correlated with lower patient and family satisfaction whether or not the patients had received dialysis, according to a recent study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Receipt of hospice or palliative care was associated with […]

Many Critical Care Nurses Unprepared to Provide Palliative Care

Critical care nurses say they feel unprepared to provide palliative care or hospice care, according to a recent study, underscoring the need to address growing clinical staff shortages in those fields.  More than 500 critical care nurses across seven intensive care units in a Virginia-based academic health center responded to a survey designed to measure […]

Access to Hospital Palliative Care Growing in United States

The availability of hospital-based palliative programs is growing nationwide, though some regions remain underserved according to new research by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). Patients in the northeastern United States who suffer from serious illness have significantly greater access to palliative care programs that individuals in other parts of the country. Currently 72% […]

Palliative Care Linked to Survival in Lung Cancer Patients

Lung cancer patients who receive palliative care interventions early in the course of their illness are more likely to survive than patients who do not, new research has found. Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Portland Health Care System and Oregon Health and Science University researchers examined data from more than 23,000  patients with advanced lung cancer who […]

Demographics Impact Patient Perceptions of Palliative Care

Misconceptions about the nature of palliative care continue to proliferate among the U.S. population, with patient demographics among the factors that influence those beliefs, new research has found. Hospice providers nationwide are increasingly diversifying their service lines to include palliative care, but lack of awareness and poor understanding among prospective patients are a major barrier […]

80% of Informed Consumers Would Choose Palliative Care

Nearly 80% of consumers who received background information on palliative care said they would choose it for themselves or their loved ones, according to a recent survey by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). However, a lack of public awareness persists. CAPC’s survey is designed to track awareness, perceptions, attitudes and interest in palliative […]

Dementia Patients Likely to Receive Intense Treatment at End-of-Life

Nursing home residents with advanced dementia often receive burdensome interventions at the end-of-life rather than palliative care or hospice care, particularly among male patients, new research has found. Researchers examined the medical records of more than 27,200 nursing home residents in the late stages of dementia who died between June 1, 2010 and March 31, […]

More Stroke Patients Seeking Hospice Care

Hospice utilization among stroke patients is on the rise as an increasing number choose to end their lives in their homes, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association-Neurology. More than 2 million people in the United States died as a result of cerebrovascular disease during the study period, which […]

Florida Expected to Take Hardest Hit in Hospice Staff Shortage

Ongoing workforce shortages in the hospice space are expected to worsen, with Florida taking the biggest hit due to the size of its population older than 65.  The number of hospice and palliative care physicians and members of other disciplines will drop precipitously during the next two decades, largely due to retirements and staff leaving […]