Palliative care is specialized care for people with serious illness that focuses on improving quality of life for patients and their families. It provides patients of any age with relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness— whatever the diagnosis. Palliative care is provided by a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, chaplains, and other clinical and non-clinical specialists who work together with primary care providers to provide an extra layer of support. Palliative care can be provided along with curative treatment. A large share of U.S. hospitals offer palliative care services. In 2012, 61% of hospitals with 50 or more beds had a palliative care program. Up to this time, little had been known about the extent to which palliative care is available elsewhere, or the extent to which the workforce is prepared to meet palliative care needs. There had been little attention to the national palliative care workforce, apart from research on the supply of palliative care specialist physicians.

This project produced a detailed analysis of the data available on hospital-based programs, and also produced qualitative findings that could be used to guide a national survey of community-based programs. This study was being conducted in collaboration with the Center to Advance Palliative Care.

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