Hospital palliative care consult improves value-based purchasing outcomes in a propensity score-matched cohort.

Background: Hospital-based palliative care consultation is consistently associated with reduced hospitalization costs and more importantly with improved patient quality of life. As healthcare systems move toward value-based purchasing rather than fee-for-service models, understanding how palliative care consultation is associated with value-based purchasing metrics can provide evidence for expanded health system support for a greater palliative care presence.

Aim: To understand how a palliative care consultation impacts rates of patient readmission and hospital-acquired infections associated with value-based purchasing metrics.