Simultaneous Home-Based Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care: Characterizing the Population

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Palliative Care
• Hospice and Palliative Medicine
• Healthcare Services Research

Background:

• Children with serious illnesses can benefit from concurrent hospice and palliative care.
• Despite Affordable Care Act coverage, the utilization of simultaneous care remains low.
• There is a scarcity of descriptive data on children receiving community-based hospice and pediatric palliative care concurrently.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize the population of children and adolescents receiving simultaneous home-based hospice and pediatric palliative care (HBHPC).
• To compare the characteristics of patients receiving HBHPC with those receiving either home-based hospice or palliative care alone.

Main Methods:

• A post hoc analysis of a retrospective study involving 31 patients enrolled in a pediatric HBHPC program.
• Comparison with a larger two-site sample of patients receiving either hospice or palliative care at home.
• Extraction of demographic and clinical data from electronic medical records.

Main Results:

• Demographic and clinical data for the simultaneous care population were presented.
• Compared to patients receiving only hospice or palliative care, the HBHPC group had a higher proportion of deceased children and greater billable hours.
• No other significant differences were identified between the groups.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest a lack of meaningful clinical distinction between hospice and palliative care in the pediatric population.
• This implies that integrated care models may not require significant differentiation in service provision for children.