Five years ago, the world held its breath as George Floyd breathed his last. Then and now we honor his life, mourn his loss, and pause to reflect on our collective commitment to advance fairness, just...

This analysis examines the share of inpatient hospital days that are covered by Medicaid nationally and by state at a time when Congress is considering potential cuts to the program. It finds that Med...

Background: Palliative care (PC) is understudied in gynecological malignancies, particularly cervical cancer. We sought to investigate PC consultation, demographic, and clinical patterns in patients with cervical cancer at our institution. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all cervical cancer diagnoses between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2022. Patients were identified using Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside. We abstracted demographic, treatment, and consult (inpatient and outpatient) information. We performed descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis, and multivariate regression analysis using SAS version 9.4. Results: We identified 821 patients; 144 (17.5%) had a PC consult, and 677 (82.5%) did not. Time from diagnosis to consult ranged from 0 to 325 months (median 16). Thirteen (9%) were referred within one month of diagnosis, and 31 (21.5%) between one and six months. Symptom management was the most common consult indication (77.8%), followed by goals of care (26.4%), end-of-life care (15.3%), and anxiety/depression (11.1%). PC consult was associated with more advanced stage (p < 0.0001), recurrence (p < 0.0001), increasing number of treatments (p < 0.0001), Medicaid insurance (p < 0.0001), single marital status (p = 0.0211), and younger age at diagnosis (p < 0.0001). Race was not associated with consultation (p = 0.4163). Conclusions: PC is underutilized in cervical cancer. Those who have a PC consult are younger, more likely to have higher-stage or recurrent disease, and to have received multiple treatments. Most consults are later in the disease, even those for pain/symptom management. Targeted efforts are necessary to develop sustainable methods for collaboration between gynecological oncology and PC providers.

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Insights to Practice is a no-cost, half-day virtual conference hosted by the Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC) that will bring together

The majority of people in need of palliative care (PC) in low- and middle-income countries lack access to it and suffer unnecessarily as a consequence. This unmet need is due, in part, to the lack of ...