Overall, the American health care system improved its palliative care grade from a "C" to a "B," according to the study America’s Care of Serious Illness: a State-by-State Report Card on Access to Palliative Care in Our Nation’s Hospitals.
However, location impacts access to palliative care. The District of Columbia and seven other states – Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington – earned "A" grades, while Delaware and Mississippi received "F" grades. Hospitals with palliative care programs are currently less common in the South as well as in hospitals with fewer than 50 beds.
The findings were based on data collected by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and the National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC).
The data showed that 85% of hospitals with 300 or more beds had palliative care teams, compared with 54% of public hospitals, 37% of sole community provider hospitals, and 26% of for-profit hospitals. Hospitals with 50 or more beds are more likely to be not-for-profit, and thus are more likely to offer palliative care.
The number of states earning an "A" grade improved from only three states in 2008 to seven states plus the District of Columbia in 2011. But the lack of palliative medicine physicians remains a major barrier to the continued improvement of palliative care in the U.S., where there is currently one palliative care physician for every 1,200 individuals living with a serious or life-threatening condition, the researchers noted.
"Focused efforts by hospital administration, the health care community, and policymakers are required to promote the development of quality palliative care programs in all hospitals, with special attention needed in small, rural, public, and for-profit hospitals," the CAPC said in a press release accompanying the report.