Hospice News January 16, 2023
Patients are more likely to receive palliative care if they can access social workers through their primary care providers, Veterans Health Administration (VA) research has found.
Researchers analyzed records for 43,200 veterans with prior hospitalization who had received primary care at a VA site between October 2016 and September 2019. They found a 95% increase in hospice or palliative utilization among veterans served by VA providers participating in the agency’s Social Work Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). The average age among the veterans was about 65.
“This cohort study found significant increases in use of palliative care for recently hospitalized veterans whose primary care team had additional social work staffing,” the authors wrote in the story. “These findings suggest that...
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