Table 2.

Availability of Palliative Care Programs According to Cancer Center Executives

	NCI Cancer Centers (N=51)a			Non-NCI Cancer Centers (N=50)a			P-valueb
Cancer Center Characteristics	N	%	95% CI (%)c	N	%	95% CI (%)c
Type of Cancer Center
NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center	31	61	46–74	0	0	-
NCI-designated Clinical Cancer Center	11	21	11–35	0	0	-	-
NCI-designated Community Cancer Center	9	18	8–31	0	0	-
Non NCI-designated Cancer Center	0	0	-	50	100	93–100
Unknown or not answered	0			0
Number of outpatients in 2008 (Q1–Q3)	10000		(2500–55000)	3002		(800–8400)	0.01
Unknown or not answered	12			16
Inpatient beds available	41	87	74–95	30	67	51–80	0.02
Unknown or not answered	4			5
Number of inpatient beds (Q1–Q3)d	80		(44–400)	52		(20–300)	0.22
Unknown or not answered	13			23
Palliative Care Program
Available anytime over the last 10 years	50	98	90–100	39	78	64–88	0.002
Unknown or not answered	0			0
Currently active	50	98	90–100	39	78	64–88	0.002
Unknown or not answered	0			0
Palliative care physician present	46	92	79–97	28	74	57–87	0.04
Unknown or not answered	1			12
Palliative Care Infrastructure
Inpatient consultation team	47	92	81–98	28	56	41–70	<0.001
Unknown or not answered	0			0
Outpatient clinic	30	59	44–72	11	22	12–36	<0.001
Unknown or not answered	0			0
Dedicated palliative care acute care beds	13	26	14–40	10	20	10–34	0.64
Unknown or not answered	0			0
Institution-operated hospice	16	31	19–46	21	42	28–57	0.31
Unknown or not answered	0			0

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; NCI, National Cancer Institute; Q1–Q3, interquartile range

^aTotal number of respondents

^bComparisons were made between NCI and non-NCI cancer centers using the Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables, and the Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables. Confidence intervals were computed using the exact binominal test. Missing values were not included in the analyses.

^cUnless stated otherwise

^dAmong centers with inpatient units only