The California Healthcare Foundation (CHFC) has issued a new report that reviews California hospital-based palliative care programs. The review, conducted by the National Health Foundation and the University of California, San Francisco, Palliative Care Team, reported the following highlights:
• Of the 325 hospitals that responded, 43% had palliative care programs
• Ninety percent of those programs have been established since 2000
• Nonprofit hospitals are far more likely to have a palliative care program than district, city/county, or
for-profit institutions
• Fifty-seven percent of teaching hospitals now have palliative care programs
• The vast majority of programs (84%) offer adult care only; only 13% offer adult and pediatric services
• Only 4% of hospitals without palliative care are in the process of establishing a program
The report largely consists of graphic representations of data collected by the survey group, organized under the following major topics: hospitals with palliative care services, growth of programs, programs in major metropolitan areas, programs by hospital ownership and by system status, programs by licensed bed size and in teaching hospitals, types of adult palliative care programs, revenue sources of palliative care programs, patient demographics and quality measures. Other topics include spiritual care, educational materials, staff availability, bereavement services, physical and psychological symptom assessment, and data collection.
