Compassionate care, measurable impact: Evaluation of embedded physician-led palliative care in a community oncology practice.

303 Background: Despite growing recognition of the value of integrated palliative care in oncology, there is no clear consensus on how to integrate palliative care within oncology, particularly in community-based environments. Embedding palliative care physician consultants within a community oncology practice offers a promising approach by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and aligning care delivery. We examined quality outcomes of the embedded palliative care program within a community oncology practice. Methods: The population included patients who died in 2023 and 2024 and at least 2 E&M visits in the practice within 12 months preceding death. The provision of palliative care was determined by a visit with the palliative care provider within the same time frame. Hospice enrollment and receiving chemotherapy during the last 14 days of life were also extracted from the EHR. Results: There was a total of 824 patients. Key End-of-Life (EOL) metrics were compared for patients who had visit(s) with a palliative care provider and those who did not. Bivariate statistics are provided in Table 1. Patients with palliative care were 1.9 times more likely to enroll in hospice and 48% less likely to have a length of stay (LOS) less than 3 days. No association was found between receiving chemotherapy in the last 14 days and palliative care. Multivariate analysis adjusting for patient age, gender, time from diagnosis to death, metastatic status, and language spoken was consistent with bivariate analysis. Conclusions: This analysis indicates that embedding palliative care physicians within a community oncology practice significantly increases hospice enrollment and LOS greater than 3 days. These findings support a cooperative care model as a practical strategy for integrating palliative care physicians into community-based oncology practices to improve patients’ EOL outcomes. Palliative Care Odds Ratio P-value Outcomes Yes (N=448) No (N =376) Hospice Yes 256 157 1.9 No 192 219 <.0001 Hospice <3 days Yes 29 31 0.52 No 227 126 0.02 Chemo received in the last 14 days Yes 39 44 0.72 No 409 332 0.2