Hospice, Palliative Care Integrated Into the ED

Background: The need for both active and palliative care near the end of life is rapidly increasing, and the necessity of emergency departments (EDs) in the care of older and more ill patients has been growing commensurately. Both Emergency Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine organizations now recommend integration of palliative care models into ED practice, with the opportunities to improve symptom control, assess and assure goals of care, and reduce unnecessary hospital costs and resource utilization. Unfortunately, hospice and palliative care (HPC) integration into ED practice remains somewhat inconsistent across the United States, and utilization trends and best practices are not always clear. Objective: To assess recent trends and outcomes of HPC consultation in a large urban academic medical system. Design: Retrospective, cohort, electronic health record–based study. Methods: Records from 5 ED in the Henry Ford system from 2016 to 2023 were reviewed. The total cohort c more...