Articles: palliative-care.
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The emergency department (ED) offers an opportunity to initiate palliative care for older adults with serious, life-limiting illness. ⋯ This multicomponent intervention to initiate palliative care in the ED did not have an effect on hospital admission, subsequent health care use, or short-term mortality in older adults with serious, life-limiting illness.
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Background: Inpatient palliative care (PC) consultations are increasingly used to address operational challenges. We aimed to understand how PC consultations in a southeastern program, affected by pandemic-related care delays, impacted common clinical performance metrics. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of a tertiary system's adult patients who received PC consultations from December 2021 to August 2022. ⋯ Despite a significantly longer length of stay (LOS) (12.46 days vs. 6.99 days, p < 0.001), the PC group experienced a lower readmission rate (adjusted odds ratio 0.54, 95% confidence interval 0.44-0.65, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our cohort study using MS-DRG matching indicates that despite increased LOS, PC consultations were associated with significantly lower readmission rates. This suggests their potential to improve resource utilization, especially in regions affected by pandemic-deferred care.