Palliative, Hospice Care For Cancer Patients

The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that those patients with advanced cancer receive palliative care soon after they are diagnosed and receive hospice care for at least the last three days of their life. There are major gaps between these recommendations and the real-life practice, according to a study.

The care received by all veterans over the age of 65 with cancer who died in 2012, a total of 11,896 individuals, was examined by Risha Gidwani, DrPH, a health economist at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Economics Resource Center and a consulting assistant professor of medicine …read more