This quality improvement study, by Baugh and colleagues (2024), aimed to assess the association of hospice use with a novel multidisciplinary care transitions program to quickly identify and enroll patients eligible for hospice who presented to the emergency department (ED) near the end of life. The study involved 270 patients in the control period and 388 in the intervention period. The primary outcome was a transition to hospice without hospital admission within 96 hours of the ED visit. The intervention was associated with the primary outcome after adjustment for age, race and ethnicity, primary payer, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and presence of a Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment. There was no significant difference in inpatient length of stay between the control and intervention periods. Read more…
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