Researchers Study Oncologic Outpatient Palliative Care Referral Utilization
In a retrospective quality improvement study from the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, Rubina Ratnaparkhi, MD, et al. analyzed outpatient specialty palliative care referrals at a single specialty cancer center. Focusing on referral sources, timeliness, and completion rates, the researchers found that most referrals were made by medical oncologists, with a median time of 20 days from referral to the first appointment, although 27% of patients did not schedule an appointment. The study suggests increasing referrals from surgical oncologists and initiating palliative care earlier, providing a model for improving palliative care use at other centers.