Black and Hispanic nursing home (NH) residents are more likely than their white counterparts to be living in facilities that provide fewer palliative care services, a new study from Columbia University School of Nursing shows.
“This research highlights the importance of improving end-of-life care for the increasingly diverse nursing home population,” says Patricia Stone, PhD, the senior author of the study and a professor and director of the Center for Health Policy at Columbia Nursing.
“This study builds upon our understanding of racial disparities in nursing homes by looking at palliative care services, which are essential at the end of life,” says Leah Estrada, a PhD candidate at the nursing school and the study’s first author. “Nursing homes with higher concentrations of Black and Hispanic residents are disadvantaged and targeted policy efforts are needed to improve services based on populations served.”
Palliative care is intended to relieve symptoms in seriously ill patients, regardless of their prognosis, Stone, Estrada and their colleagues note in their report in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. In nursing homes, palliative care involves continuing care planning to ensure that a resident’s goals of care are met and their dignity is considered, especially approaching the end of life, they add.
NH patients overall are known to face racial and ethnic disparities in care, the authors write. Black and Hispanic NH residents are sicker, and they are more likely to live in segregated, financially strained NHs that depend heavily on Medicaid. They are also more likely to undergo aggressive treatment and hospitalization, less likely to get hospice care at the end of life, and receive worse pain management.
To investigate whether nursing home palliative care varies by region and concentration of Black and Hispanic residents, the researchers surveyed 869 nursing homes across the U.S., selected to represent all of the nation’s roughly 15,000 nursing homes.
Overall, facilities provided less than half of palliative care services assessed by the survey. NHs in the Northeast provided the most palliative care, while those in the South provided the least.
In the Northeast and West, the authors found, the NHs with a higher proportion of Black residents provided less palliative care. In all regions, palliative care services decreased as the percentage of Hispanic residents increased.
To address the issue, Stone, Estrada and their colleagues note, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services could develop payment incentives focused on advancing health equity.
“Given that NH care is suboptimal, particularly at the end of life, palliative care may be the missing link to improve quality of care for Black and Hispanic residents,” they conclude.
About Columbia University School of Nursing
Columbia University School of Nursing is part of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, which also includes the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Mailman School of Public Health, and College of Dental Medicine. With more than 90 full-time faculty and 870 students, the School of Nursing is dedicated to educating the next generation of nurse leaders in education, research, and clinical care. The School has pioneered advanced practice nursing curricula and continues to define the role of nursing and nursing research through its PhD program, which prepares nurse scientists, and its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), one of the first clinical practice doctorate programs in the nation. Among the clinical practice areas shaped by the School’s research are the reduction of infectious disease and the use of health care informatics to improve health and health care. For more information, please visit our website.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
