Does Inpatient Palliative Care Facilitate Home-Based Palliative Care Postdischarge? A Retrospective Cohort Study

Evidence of the impact of inpatient palliative care on receiving home-based palliative care remains limited. The objective of this study was to examine, at a population level, the association between receiving inpatient palliative care and home-based palliative care postdischarge. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the association between receiving inpatient palliative care and home-based palliative care within 21 days of hospital discharge among decedents in the last six months of life. We captured all decedents who were discharged alive from an acute care hospital in their last 180 days of life between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2017, in Ontario, Canada. The index event was the first hospital discharge furthest away from death (i.e., closest to 180 days before death). Decedents who had inpatient palliative care were significantly more likely to receive home-based palliative care after discharge (80.0% vs. 20.1%; p < 0.001). After adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical covariates, the odds of receiving home-based palliative care were 11.3 times higher for those with inpatient palliative care (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.4-13.5; p < 0.001). The strength of the association incrementally decreased as death approached. The odds of receiving home-based palliative care after a hospital discharge 60 days before death were 7.7 times greater for those who received inpatient palliative care (95% CI: 6.0-9.8). Inpatient palliative care offers a distinct opportunity to improve transitional care between hospital and home, through enhancing access to home-based palliative care.