Use of palliative care and hospice among surgical and medical specialties in the Veterans Health Administration.

Importance: Many hospitals have undertaken initiatives to improve care during the end of life, recognizing that some individuals have unique needs that are often not met in acute inpatient care settings. Studies of surgical patients have shown this population to receive palliative care at reduced rates in comparison with medical patients.

Objective: To determine differences in the use of palliative care and hospice between surgical and medical patients in an integrated health care system.

American Society of Clinical Oncology-recommended surveillance and physician specialty among long-term breast cancer survivors.

Background: It is unclear whether it is appropriate to transfer the follow-up care of breast cancer (BrCa) survivors from cancer specialists to primary care physicians (PCPs). This contemporary study compared physician specialty and documented the long-term surveillance of survivors who underwent surgery at an American academic center.

Methods: Women in this institutional review board-approved study underwent breast surgery between 1996 and 2006.