Veterans' use of inpatient and outpatient palliative care: The national landscape.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Palliative care improves the quality of life for people with life-limiting conditions, which are common among older adults. Despite the Veterans Health Administration (VA) outpatient palliative care expansion, most research has focused on inpatient palliative care. This study aimed to compare veteran characteristics and hospice use for palliative care users across care settings (inpatient vs. outpatient) and dose (number of palliative care encounters).

Methods

This national cohort included veterans with any VA palliative care encounters from 2014 through 2017. We used VA and Medicare administrative data (2010-2017) to describe veteran demographics, socioeconomic status, life-limiting conditions, frailty, and palliative care utilization. Specialty palliative care e

SUBMITTER: Kaufman BG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11580742 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature