Palliative Care Specialist Use Among Medicare Decedents with Poor-Prognosis Cancers
In a study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers analyzed data from over 1.5 million Medicare decedents with poor-prognosis cancers and found a 24% overall increase in specialty palliative care use from 2018 to 2023, driven by more outpatient visits and care provided by advanced practice clinicians. Telehealth helped expand access, but older adults, lower-income patients, and those living in nonmetropolitan areas were still less likely to receive palliative care.