Effects of Primary Care-Led, Integrated Palliative Care for Medicare Patients in a Value-Based Model
In a study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Karthik Rao, MD, et al. aimed to determine if a multi-site, primary care-led, integrated palliative care model, would improve clinical, utilization, and economic outcomes. With the goal of a scalable solution to meet the needs of the aging population, due to a projected shortage of palliative care physicians, the authors shared their results. "These findings demonstrate that PCPs in a scaled, full-risk model can simultaneously improve care for patients while reducing costs to the healthcare system."