New ER program helped more patients get needed hospice care

New ER program helped more patients get needed hospice care 
U.S. News & World Report; by Carole Tanzer Miller, HelathDay Reporter; 7/9/24 
One hospital's push to transition patients who are nearing the end of life from the emergency room to hospice care appears to be working. After the program went into effect, 54% of ER patients at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston transitioned to hospice care within 96 hours. That compared to 22% before the program began in 2021. Their findings suggest that such programs may help adults who present at the ER near the end of life avoid delayed or missed hospice care. "When patients come to an emergency room near end of life, the default is typically to admit them to the hospital, engage them in conversations about goals and end-of-life care and potentially move them into hospice care," said first study author Dr. Christopher Baugh, an emergency department physician at Brigham and Women's. "However, this lengthy progress can take longer than the patient has left to live." He said the new program helps doctors quickly identify patients who are eligible for hospice care and get them there quicker. In hospice care, attempts to cure a person's illness are stopped and the focus shifts to comfort care and family support. ... The findings were reported July 8 in the journal JAMA Network Open.