What is palliative care?
Palliative care (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) is the medical specialty that focuses on relief of the pain and other symptoms of serious illness. The goal is to prevent and ease suffering and to offer patients and their families the best possible quality of life.
Palliative care is appropriate at any stage of a serious or life-threatening illness and is not dependent on prognosis. It can also be provided at the same time as curative and life-prolonging treatment.
Is palliative care the same as hospice?
No. Hospital palliative care is appropriate at any stage of a serious illness, while hospice care is appropriate for people with terminal illness at the last stages of life.
Does palliative care improve care quality?
Yes. Palliative care programs provide an organized, highly structured system for delivering care in hospitals—the main site of care for seriously ill Americans. Palliative care meets Institute of Medicine (IOM) goals by improving health care quality in three key areas:
- Relief of pain and symptoms and emotional suffering for patients and families
- Enhanced patient-physician-family communication and decision-making
- Improved coordination of care across multiple healthcare settings
Who should receive palliative care?
Palliative care is appropriate for anyone suffering from the pain or other symptoms of a serious, chronic or life-threatening illness such as cancer, cardiac disease, respiratory disease, kidney failure, Alzheimer′s, AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis.
How do patients benefit from palliative care?
For most people, serious and life-threatening illness means multiple hospitalizations, pain and other symptoms, a revolving door of medical specialists and tests, and medical procedures that may or may not improve their condition. Palliative care improves the ability to endure medical treatments and carry on with daily life. Palliative care patients can expect relief from symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping.
Does insurance pay for palliative care?
Most insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, cover all or part of the palliative care treatment you receive in the hospital. Palliative care is treated in the same way as medical services (e.g. cardiology).
How does it work? How do patients get palliative care?
Palliative care is provided in the hospital through a palliative care program that consists of an interdisciplinary palliative care team. The team is compossed of palliative care doctors, nurses and social workers. Depending on the hospital, teams may also include other disciplines such as pharmacy. Palliative care teams act as consultants to the patient′s primary doctor. Hospitalized patients can ask their doctor for a referral if the doctor has not already brought the team in.
Do patients have to give up their primary doctor?
No. Palliative care teams are consultants and work along with the primary doctor.
Does palliative care have an impact on hospital and healthcare spending?
Comprehensive palliative care programs can save hospitals and the health system money while greatly improving quality of care for millions of Americans. By delivering highly-effective, rigorously coordinated care, palliative care programs have a direct impact on the reduction of health care spending through:
- Decreased hospital readmissions
- Decreased hospital costs through decreased lengths of stay and unnecessary tests
- Efficiently coordinated care transitions
What are the implications for Medicare and Medicaid?
The patient population driving runaway medical spending is the target population for palliative care:
- The seriously ill constitute only 5-10% of patients, but account for more than half of the nation′s total healthcare costs.
- The 10% of Medicare beneficiaries with 5 or more comorbid illnesses account for two-thirds of total Medicare spending.
- The 4% of the sickest Medicaid beneficiaries account for fully 48% of total program spending; 76% of the national Medicaid budget goes to acute hospital services, the most expensive setting of care.
How many patients in the U.S. need palliative care?
Approximately 6,000,000 people need palliative care.
