Axis Palliative Healthcare, LLC Description

A community palliative care team, initiated through a partnership between a large community hospital and a large hospice agency, assessed referral patterns to hospice and showed the collaborating stakeholders that the palliative care team does not automatically refer to hospice nor inhibit access to hospice services for those who are appropriate.

Goal

To demonstrate that the referrals made by the palliative care team to hospice were neither excessive, nor restrictive, and that the palliative care team provided care to patients who were not appropriate for hospice services.

Measures

Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet tracking referral of patients from a hospital-based palliative care program to hospice in a six-month period. Referral to hospice was indicated by entry of a Y (yes) or N (no) on the spreadsheet.

Data Collected

Axis Palliative Healthcare, LLC and LifePath Hospice are both subsidiaries of HPC Healthcare, Inc. Axis Palliative Healthcare, in partnership with St. Joseph’s Hospital, created a hospital-based Palliative Care Team (PCT). In launching this joint venture between a hospital system and an organization associated with a hospice agency, differing interests were voiced regarding how the PCT’s consults might impact hospice referrals. The Hospital staff was concerned that a consult to the PCT could be perceived as an automatic referral to hospice. The hospice agency wanted to ensure access to hospice services for hospice appropriate patients, even when the interventions of the PCT met the patient’s needs. To investigate these concerns, during our initial six-months, data was collected on all patient consults to the PCT as to whether or not the PCT’s involvement resulted in a hospice referral. The referral data was then analyzed to identify trends and patterns in hospice referrals. After 452 consults, more than 50% of the PCT’s consults did not result in a hospice referral, which showed that the PCT’s participation in these patients’ care did not mean an automatic referral to hospice. Also, 42% of the patients seen by the PCT were referred to hospice, indicating that the PCT made referrals if the patient was hospice appropriate. The data also suggests that the palliative care team was able to service the needs of a population of patients that were not appropriate for hospice service.

Graphs or Tables of Results: Palliative Care Patients Referred to Hospice

Summary of Results / What Worked and Why

• Verified that a hospital/hospice partnership-based palliative care team serves a population of patients that are not appropriate for hospice services.
• Demonstrated that a palliative care team identifies and refers appropriate patients to hospice.
• Confirmed that a single data set can provide accurate information regarding two stakeholders’ opposing interests.