Palliative care helps to improve quality of life for patients and families experiencing serious illness while lowering health care costs, but no comprehensive national information exists on palliative care services in the rural U.S. This project answered four key questions about how rural populations access palliative care: (1) how available is palliative care in rural vs. urban hospitals across the U.S., nationally, regionally, and by level of rurality; (2) how equitably are palliative care services distributed within rural areas according to community characteristics such as poverty, education, and employment level and racial/ethnic composition of the population; (3) how have some of the smallest rural hospitals with palliative care services developed and maintained these services using workforce and technological solutions; and (4) how often are rural palliative care services offered by organizations other than hospitals? This project used data from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database, interviews with small rural hospitals that offer palliative care services, and a survey of rural hospitals without palliative care services.

This project described the availability of palliative care in rural versus urban hospitals and documented emerging palliative care solutions for rural communities. Understanding the particular needs and innovations of rural communities in providing palliative care can help inform policy initiatives to ensure that rural populations have access to health services that improve quality of life while reducing costs.

Publications

• Palliative Care Challenges and Solutions in Rural U.S. Communities
  Policy Brief
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 09/2024
  This study describes palliative care in rural communities.