title: Impact of Staffing on Access to Palliative Care in U.S. Hospitals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Over the past decade over two-thirds of U.S. hospitals have established palliative care programs. National data on palliative care program staffing and its association with operational outcomes are limited.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this report is to examine the impact of palliative care program staffing on access to palliative care in U.S. hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from the National Palliative Care Registry™ for 2014 were used to calculate staffing levels, palliative care service penetration, and time to initial palliative care consultation for 398 palliative care programs operating across 482 U.S. hospitals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hospital-based palliative care programs reported an average service penetration of 4.4%. Higher staffing levels were associated with higher service penetration; higher service penetration was associated with shorter time to initial palliative care consultation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report demonstrates that operational effectiveness, as measured by staffing and palliative care service penetration, is associated with shorter time to palliative care consultation.
authors.affiliation: 1 Center to Advance Palliative Care , New York, New York.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dumanovsky
authors.affiliation: 1 Center to Advance Palliative Care , New York, New York.
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: 2 Spragens & Associates , Durham, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Lynn Hill
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Spragens
authors.affiliation: 3 Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute, Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York, New York.|4 National Palliative Care Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York, New York.
authors.forename: R Sean
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.affiliation: 1 Center to Advance Palliative Care , New York, New York.
authors.forename: Diane E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Meier
mesh_terms: D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012042:Registries; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce