Measuring the Impact of Outpatient Palliative Care

Outcomes 1. Utilizing a case-based approach, participants will be able to identify three key metrics to show the impact of a palliative care clinic on patient and health system outcomes.2. Utilizing the examples and framework from this presentation, participants will be able to make plans to collect meaningful data to show the impact of a palliative care clinic on patient and health system outcomes. Key Message Outpatient palliative care is a rapidly growing sector of our field. As we emerge beyond an exploratory phase and become integrated, there will be a need to show outcomes that will sustain further growth and investment. This presentation will highlight historical and recent research to help outpatient clinics collect meaningful data to demonstrate important benefits to patients and health systems. Abstract Outpatient palliative care is a key area for growth for our field in the next decade, across various community settings including clinics and in the home. As health systems increase investment in outpatient palliative care, the need to demonstrate value will become more pressing, requiring innovative ways of measuring impact and sustainable growth beyond a small panel boutique medicine service.Traditional metrics currently in use, which include productivity-based measurements (eg., visit volumes, RVU generation), population parameters (such as patient demographics), and patient-reported outcomes (such as existing patient satisfaction scores) are insufficient to measure the full impact of outpatient PC. Developing or participating in a registry can open up new opportunities for outcome measurement. The establishment of the Palliative Care Quality Collaborative registry will likely provide new ways to measure and benchmark outpatient palliative care. Leveraging EHR registries and creating custom registries in databases like REDCAp allow clinics to access new outcomes data.In this session, leaders representing a diverse selection of outpatient palliative care practices (academic, oncology-integrated, community-based) will first review the current state of value measurement in outpatient palliative care, and will then share innovative approaches to measurement utilized in their local practice environment. Specifically, we will discuss the benefits and challenges presented by leveraging various types of outcomes, ranging from patient-reported outcomes, to utilization-based outcomes stemming from improved care coordination (such as reduced or shorter hospital stays and improved hospice utilization). Through this discussion, presenters will chart a path for future quality measurement in outpatient PC, with a focus on ensuring equity and leveraging the tools of population health.Understanding how to demonstrate outpatient PC has value beyond RVUs is a critical skill for outpatient leaders to acquire. This session will share best practices in an effort to build a strong foundation of outpatient PC outcomes data. Keywords Models of Palliative Care Delivery / Interdisciplinary Teamwork / Professionalism