Trend and Provider- and Organizational-Level Factors Associated With Early Palliative Care Billing Among Patients Diagnosed With Distant-Stage Cancers in 2010-2019 in the United States.

Purpose: Early integration of specialized palliative care (PC) is recommended by clinical guidelines for advanced-stage cancers, but real-world evidence of its use is limited. We examined the recent trend of early PC billing among Medicare beneficiaries with distant-stage cancers and associated provider- and organization-level factors.

Methods: Using SEER-Medicare data, we identified Medicare Fee-For-Service beneficiaries 65.