Factors Associated with Adoption and Closure of Hospital Palliative Care Programs
In a study published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, Maggie Rogers, et al. found that for every four hospital-based palliative care programs that started, one existing program closed. Adoption and closure rates were calculated for 3,696 U.S. hospitals between 2009 and 2017.
The study indicates that "hospital palliative care is not equitably adopted nor sustained by hospitals in the United States." Specifically, "rural, for-profit, sole-community, and non-ACGME hospitals have experienced the highest rates of closure when controlling for hospital and geographic characteristics. Large, nonprofit, public, teaching, Catholic Church-operated, and hospitals in micropolitan and metropolitan areas were associated with a higher likelihood of palliative care adoption."