How Hospital Palliative Care Programs Drive Value

Turner West, director of Education and Community Programs at Lexington, KY-based Hospice of the Bluegrass, discusses how palliative care can drive value at hospitals in areas such as readmissions, mortality, and patient satisfaction.

Americans live in one of the most medically advanced societies in human history. But sometimes, there is no cure for what ails us.

For those times, there is palliative care, which aims to improve quality of life and contain healthcare provider costs for the most costly patients: Those suffering from serious chronic illnesses.

Palliative care, however, is undervalued. But as the drive toward value-based healthcare delivery continues, anything that is undervalued presents an opportunity.

Turner West, director of Education and Community Programs at Lexington, KY-based Hospice of the Bluegrass spoke with me last week as I was preparing for my upcoming webcast, Hospital-Hospice Collaboration to Improve Palliative Care Outcomes. It seemed only fitting to pepper him with questions.

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Source: Health Leaders Media