Table 1.

Patient characteristics at time of referral to specialty palliative care for hospitalized patients with liver disease and patients with cancer

Characteristic	Liver Disease	Cancer	P value
Patients	n = 4,402	n = 40,531
Age, mean (95% CI), y	58.9 (58.5, 59.3)	65.2 (65.0, 65.3)	<0.0001
Male, No. (%)	2,621 (59.6)	19,879(49.1)	<0.0001
	n = 3,885	n = 35,787
Mean Palliative Performance Scale score (95% CI)	34.6 (34.0, 35.2)	42.3 (42.2, 42.6)	<0.0001
Level of care at time of PC referral, No. (%)	n = 4,336	n = 39,846	<0.0001
Critical care unit	1,211(27.9)	4,985 (12.5)
Telemetry/step-down unit	858(19.8)	7,651 (19.2)
Medical/surgical unit	1,886 (43.5)	21,854(54.8)
Other*	381 (8.8)	5,356(13.4)
Reason for PC referral, No. (%)	n = 4,359	n = 39,609
Goals of care/advance care planning	3,562(81.7)	26,885 (67.9)	<0.0001
Pain management	476(10.9)	13,839(34.9)	<0.0001
Other symptom management	445 (10.2)	8,587(21.7)	<0.0001
Withdrawal of interventions	152(3.5)	611 (1.5)	<0.0001
Assess for transfer to comfort care	330 (7.6)	2,236 (5.6)	<0.0001
Hospice referral/discussion	789(18.1)	6,679 (16.9)	0.04
Support for patient/family	985 (22.6)	8,291 (20.9)	0.01
Patients with AD at time of PC referral	n = 4,259	n = 38,658
No. (%)	624 (14.7)	8,180(21.2)	<0.0001
Patients with POLST at time of PC referral	n = 4,236	n = 38,314
No. (%)	356 (8.4)	3,317(8.7)	0.6
Patients’ hospital LOS prior to PC referral request
Mean (95% CI), d	6.8 (5.9, 7.7)	3.4 (3.8, 4.0)	<0.0001

^*“Other” consists of emergency department, labor & delivery, skilled nursing facility, pediatrics, or acute rehabilitation. Abbreviations: AD, advance directive; LOS, length of stay; PC, palliative care; POLST, physician orders for life-sustaining treatment