2014 Palliative Care Benchmarks: Despite Benefits, Timely Referrals Challenge Industry

Sea Girt, NJ, September 30, 2014 --(PR.com)-- While the availability of palliative care helped to curb healthcare utilization costs for 70 percent of respondents and improve patient satisfaction levels for 88 percent of respondents, according to 2014 market data from the Healthcare Intelligence Network, 52 percent reported that timely referrals to palliative care pose a serious challenge.

A September 2014 Institute of Medicine consensus report, "Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life," found that palliative care is associated with a higher quality of life, including better understanding and communication, access to home care, emotional and spiritual support, well-being and dignity, care at time of death, and lighter symptom burden—in short, enhancing the patient experience.

2014 Healthcare Benchmarks: Palliative Care documents emerging trends in palliative care at 223 healthcare organizations, from the timing for initial consults to individuals on the care team to the impact this specialized care is having on healthcare utilization and the patient experience—two critical markers of healthcare performance.

Learn more about 2014 palliative care trends at http://hin.3dcartstores.com/2014-Healthcare-Benchmarks-Palliative-Care_p_4808.html

2014 Healthcare Benchmarks: Palliative Care is supported with dozens of graphs and tables and describes emerging trends in palliative care, including the following data points:

-Availability of current and planned programs;
-Top tools for identifying program candidates;
-Risk stratification tools to determine eligibility;
-Key characteristics of the palliative care population;
-Program components—metrics on pain and symptom management, spiritual counseling, caregiver education, and more;
-Successful palliative care tools, workflows and strategies—all in respondents' own words;
-Challenges and impact of programs, with key metrics of reimbursement, ROI, hospital and ER utilization, patient and caregiver satisfaction, medication adherence, and much more.

Learn more about 2014 palliative care trends at http://hin.3dcartstores.com/2014-Healthcare-Benchmarks-Palliative-Care_p_4808.html

Report Formats: Print, PDF, Benchmarks Membership, Site License.

"The IOM report suggests that improving the quality and availability of related medical and social services for patients and their families could not only enhance quality of life through the end of life, but may also contribute to a more sustainable care system. Our Palliative Care Benchmarks are a critical resource for organizations wishing to make improvements in this area."
- Quote attributable to Melanie Matthews, Executive VP and COO of the Healthcare Intelligence Network. For Melanie Matthews' profile, please visit http://www.hin.com/bios.html#mm

Please contact Patricia Donovan to arrange an interview or to obtain additional quotes.

About the Healthcare Intelligence Network — HIN is the premier advisory service for executives seeking high-quality strategic information on the business of healthcare. For more information, contact the Healthcare Intelligence Network, PO Box 1442, Wall Township, NJ 07719-1442, (888) 446-3530, fax (732) 449-4463, e-mail info@hin.com, or visit http://www.hin.com.