Survey Finds Increase in Hospital-Based Palliative Care Services - October 12, 2011

A new survey by the Center to Advance Palliative Care, a nonprofit affiliated with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, found that 63 percent of the 2,489 hospitals surveyed offered palliative care services in 2011. This is more than double the percentage of hospitals that had palliative teams in 2000. In general, palliative care services are more likely to be found at nonprofit hospitals and larger hospitals. There was also great variation between states in the prevalence of palliative care teams. Seven states and the District of Columbia had palliative care services in at least 83 percent of their hospitals, and 11 states had palliative care services in fewer than half of their hospitals.