• Peter Tanuseputro, Suman Budhwani, Yu Qing Bai, and Walter P Wodchis.
• 1 Bruyère Centre for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care, Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
• Palliat Med. 2017 Mar 1; 31 (3): 247257247-257.

BackgroundLittle population-level information exists about the delivery of palliative care across multiple health sectors, important in providing a complete picture of current care and gaps in care.AimProvide a population perspective on end-of-life palliative care delivery across health sectors.DesignRetrospective population-level cohort study, describing palliative care in the last year of life using linked health administrative databases.Setting/ParticipantsAll decedents in Ontario, Canada, from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2012 ( n = 177,817).ResultsAcross all health sectors, about half (51.9%) of all decedents received at least one record of palliative care in the last year of life. Being female, middle-aged, living in wealthier and urban neighborhoods, having cancer, and less multi-morbidity were all associated with higher odds of palliative care receipt. Among 92,276 decedents receiving palliative care, 84.9% received care in acute care hospitals. Among recipients, 35 mean days of palliative care were delivered. About half (49.1%) of all palliative care days were delivered in the last 2 months of life, and half (50.1%) had palliative care initiated in this period. Only about one-fifth of all decedents (19.3%) received end-of-life care through publicly funded home care. Less than 10% of decedents had a record of a palliative care home visit from a physician.ConclusionWe describe methods to capture palliative care using administrative data. Despite an estimate of overall reach (51.9%) that is higher than previous estimates, we have shown that palliative care is infrequently delivered particularly in community settings and to non-cancer patients and occurs close to death.

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