NECPAL Tool Aids Early Identification of Palliative Care Needs

A key issue in the development of population-based access to palliative care is identification of appropriate patients. To evaluate the NECPAL (NECesidades Paliativas) tool to identify unmet palliative care needs in the Czech Republic in regional hospitals of the Vysocina region. We used the End-of-Life care information system (ELFis) to evaluate prognostication to aid the identification of palliative care needs. The evaluation process was developed in cooperation with the regional government and central health care insurance agency as a step toward the development of a nation-wide palliative care program. Our results demonstrate that the NECPAL tool successfully identified palliative care needs in specifically prepared clinical environment. An important part of this is a support of main stakeholders and an effective leadership. An unexpected finding was the role that leadership played in testing the tool, and very short time (10 months) needed for statistically visible changes in a regional system of care.