Title: Pain and Opioid Use among US Patients Receiving Hospice Care: A pilot project
Investigator: Yuhua Bao, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College
Overview:The goal of this pilot study is to generate national estimates of pain and pharmacological management of pain among U.S. patients receiving hospice care and to understand factors associated with use of pharmacological methods (including opioids) to control hospice patients’ pain. We will use data from the most recent wave of the National Home and Hospice Care Survey (the 2007 NHHCS) to generate nationally representative estimates and explore their implications for hospice patients with all types of insurance coverage, all types of terminal conditions, and receiving hospice care in all settings (home as well as institutional). The 2007 NHHCS collected medication data for the first time in its history, providing a unique opportunity to achieve aims of this pilot study.
Aim 1. Generate national estimates of pain and pharmacological management of pain among patients receiving hospice care in 2007 We will use the 2007 NHHCS Patient Health Module to estimate the prevalence of pain at both the beginning and the end of the hospice episode.
Aim 2. Identify patient, clinical, hospice setting and hospice agency characteristics predicting pharmacological management of pain and use of opioids among hospice patients whose assessed pain indicates a need for pain management.