Table 3.

Data to gather in order to analyze your own performance, and compare to other PC programs

Data element	Reason
Patient ID#
Patient age, gender, race/ethnicity	Helps to know if you are reaching all the people you need to reach.
Palliative care diagnoses	List the top several for each patient
Referring service and/or referring physician	Helps to know who you are and are not reaching
Date of hospital admission	Helps to know your length of stay. Palliative care may reduce length of stay, which increases the number of people your hospital can serve.
Date of hospital discharge
Date of PCU admission
Disposition: inpatient death vs. discharge; discharge location
Hospice admissions/discharges
Patient billing status: acute care or hospice pass-through
Financial analysis of the program	Are you profitable? Do you save money by cost avoidance? Do you cost the health system money? Do charitable donations support your program? Do you generate substantial good will for your parent organization?

Modified from Center to Advance Palliative Care Metrics [13, 14]. PCU, palliative care unit.