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Although palliative care originally was designed to comfort patients who are near death, such care ideally begins at diagnosis and encompasses services provided throughout the treatment process. Whether such services are widely available to cancer patients is not known. Investigators surveyed cancer center executives and palliative care program leaders from 71 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated and 71 non-NCI cancer centers to determine availability and comprehensiveness of palliative care.
Response rates were 71% and 82% for executives and program leaders, respectively. Findings showed that palliative care programs were more common at NCI-designated cancer centers than at non-NCI cancer centers (98% vs. 78%; P=0.002); NCI cancer cen…