Goals of care discussion and hospice enrollment.

Abstract

229 Background: When asked, many people wish to die at home. Yet, more than one third of cancer patients with poor prognosis die in hospital. Enrollment in hospice care is associated with reduced receipt of high-intensity care toward the end of life. Hospice is palliative care tailored to patients in the last 6 months of life. The ability to collect, organize, analyze and report documented Goals of Care (GOC) conversation data and the relationship to hospice enrollment is challenging. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) created a process to establish a sample baseline of documented GOC discussions, the healthcare setting in which they took place, and how this relates to hospice enrollment. Methods: We selected a sample of 50 decedent charts. Patients were verified as period of 6 months from date of death, documenting provider type, care setting that documented discussion took place and chart search terms. Results: Our sample consisted of 50 adult solid tumor cancer patients who died between March-May 2018. Using an SCCA created GOC discussion definition adapted from Ariadne Labs Serious Illness Care program, we found that 52% of patients had a GOC discussion in the last 6 months of life and of these, 92% discussed hospice with a provider, 77% received a hospice referral and 62% enrolled in hospice. 48% of our decedent sample did not have a GOC discussion. 46% had a hospice discussion of whom 100% enrolled in hospice. 46% received a hospice referral. 54% of patients did not discuss hospice of whom 30% enrolled in hospice. In looking at which providers talked with patients about hospice and in what care setting, we found that 44% discussed hospice with outpatient medical oncologist, 10% discussed hospice with an outpatient provider, 16% had a discussion while inpatient, and 30% had no hospice discussion at all. Conclusions: The majority of GOC discussions happened in the outpatient setting with medical oncologists. Many patients never had a discussion about hospice with their provider. Patients were most likely to enroll in hospice when it was specifically discussed, regardless of whether a GOC discussion took place.