Availability of programs in 2008 ranged from 40 percent among hospitals with fewer than 75 beds to 81 percent among hospitals with 300 or more beds. Meanwhile, 70 percent of not-for-profit hospitals with 50 or more beds had a program, a higher rate than other types.
The in-hospital programs, which treat the pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness, address “the fragmentation of the healthcare system,” said Diane E. Meier, MD, director of the center.
Read the Center to Advance Palliative Care’s release on palliative care.
