For complete Methodology, please see the Journal of Palliative Medicine (October 2008)
Inclusion Criteria
Hospitals containing 50 or more beds are the primary focus of the report card. Small hospitals (fewer than 50 beds) see a limited number of patients with serious and life-threatening illness. They are therefore unlikely to be able to support a full interdisciplinary palliative care team (e.g., palliative care physician, nurse and social worker) that has been shown to lead to improved patient, family and health care system outcomes.
Also excluded from the study are rehabilitation hospitals; psychiatric hospitals; subacute and chronic care facilities; eye, ear, nose and throat hospitals; pediatric hospitals; hospitals under federal control; hospitals located outside the 50 states and District of Columbia and hospitals that did not respond to the annual American Hospital Association (AHA) survey.
Data Sources
The major findings in this report are drawn from research described in “Variability in Access to Hospital Palliative Care in the United States” (Journal of Palliative Medicine, October 2008). Primary data sources included the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual SurveyTM for fiscal year 2006 (hospital characteristics including the presence of a palliative care program); the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) (affiliated teaching hospitals for the nation′s 126 public and private medical schools) and the 2006 United States census (information about the hospital′s community). Supplemental data were provided through a mailed/faxed survey, telephonic interviews of select medical school admissions offices, and reviews of medical school Web sites as described below. Additional data for the report, America′s Care of Serious Illness, were obtained from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM); National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses; the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care; the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
