Comparing Unmet Needs to Optimize Quality: Characterizing Inpatient and Outpatient Palliative Care Populations

Abstract Context Palliative care (PC) consultation services are available in most hospitals; outpatient services are rapidly growing to meet the needs of patients at earlier stages of the disease trajectory. Objectives We aimed to compare the unmet needs of PC patients by location of care to better characterize these populations. Methods This cross-sectional secondary analysis examined patients receiving hospital and outpatient-based PC across 10 community and academic organizations in the Global Palliative Care Quality Alliance. We identified unmet symptom, advance care planning, and functional needs within our database from October 23, 2012 to January 22, 2015. Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square, and Fisher’s Exact tests were performed. Results We evaluated 633 unique patients. Inpatients ( n =216) were older than outpatients ( n =417; 73 vs. 64 years, P