Center to Advance Palliative Care

I agree that this not make financial sense at all. Our palliative care consult team is very active in the ICU, and frequently meet with pt/families to assist with decisions about withdrawal of support. Once support is withdrawn, if the pt looks like he/she is actively dying, we leave them there. They usually require more intense titration of meds for comfort anyway. But, if they get to a point where they seem pretty stable, ie.. they won't die in the elevator, we move them to our oncology unit which is also our palliative care unit for pts on comfort care. If after 24 hrs, they still seem pretty stable, we call hospice- we have a hospice associated with our healthcare system and they have liasons in-house. Administration wants to see decreased LOS and money savings, but they also want pt/family satisfaction, so we don't call hospice right away to transfer out of hospital unless the pt is sitting there talking to us.Since we do have our own hospice, they can do GIP on a med/surg floor if pt meets criteria. So it works all the way around.