May 27, 2009
Discussions With Physicians About Hospice
A study published in the May 25, 2009 issue of Archives on Internal Medicine reports that only 53% of patients with stage IV lung cancer discussed hospice with a provider.
Blacks and Hispanics were less likely to discuss hospice than white or Asian patients. Non-English speaking patients discussed hospice less than English speaking patients. And patients with Medicaid discussed hospice less than those patients with Medicare or private insurance.
In addition to the disparity in how often hospice was discussed, the study reports that when the discussion takes place it seems to take place closer to death than diagnosis.
From the study:
These discussions may have occurred very near death for a considerable number of patients who had a discussion. In fact, we found that only half of patients who died within 2 months after the interview had discussed hospice before the interview.
EXTRA: The latest edition of Grand Rounds is up at See First Blog. Be sure to check out what health care bloggers everywhere have been up to.
Posted by Staff at 09:00 AM
Category: African-American Health; Cancer; Health Disparities; Health Inequities; Latino Health; Lung Cancer; end of life; hospice