Measuring How Palliative Care is Delivered: Using Provider Sequences as a New Quality Signal
In an article published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, researchers explored whether the order in which different types of palliative care providers see patients ("provider sequence") correlates with end-of-life quality measures for patients with poor-prognosis advanced cancer. Analyzing Medicare claims data from 276 hospitals, they found that an independent specialist followed by a team specialist was associated with greater hospice use, while a team specialist followed by a primary provider was associated with lower rates of timely hospice enrollment. The findings suggest that provider sequence may represent a novel quality signal that may better explain end-of-life outcomes than traditional palliative care program characteristics.