Palliative Care Decreases Emergency Department Visits for All, but Especially for Some

It is known that palliative care can decrease emergency department (ED) utilization near the end of life. Australian investigators used regional databases to quantify the correlation between palliative care and ED visits and to determine whether patient factors affect it. This retrospective observational cohort study included 11,875 people aged 20 years and older who died from neoplasms, heart failure, renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or liver failure in Western Australia during 2009–2010.

Of these people, 32% had at least one community-based palliative care consultation in the last year of life and 78% had at least one ED visit. Receipt of palliative care was associated with a 50% reduction in the likelihood (hazard) of…