Sixty-three percent of U.S. hospitals with more than 50 beds had a palliative care team in 2009, up from 58.5% in 2008 and 24.5% in 2000, the Center to Advance Palliative Care reported July 14. Driving the increase is a rising number of Americans living with serious and chronic illness, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, the Center said.
About 90 million Americans are living with serious illness, a number expected to more than double over the next 25 years as baby boomers age, the Center notes. Palliative care focuses on relieving the symptoms, pain and stress of serious illness, and can be provided along with curative treatment.
Currently, larger hospitals are more likely to have a palliative care program than smaller hospitals, while hospitals in the South are less likely to have a program than those in other regions.
[ via AHA News Now ]
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