Association of rurality with utilization of palliative care and hospice among Medicare beneficiaries who died from pancreatic cancer: A cohort study

BackgroundPancreatic cancer has a 5-year survival of just 10%. Services such as palliative care and hospice are thus crucial in this population, yet their geographic accessibility and utilization remains unknown. AimWe studied the association between rurality of patient residence and the use of palliative care and hospice. Design, setting, and participantsCohort study of continuously enrolled fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged >= 65 diagnosed with incident pancreatic cancer between 04/01/2016-08/31/2018 and who died by 12/31/2018. ResultsIn this decedent cohort of 31,460 patients, 77% lived in metropolitan areas, 11% in micropolitan areas, 7% in small towns, and 5% in rural areas. Patient demographics were largely similar across rurality; however, the proportion of White, non-Hispanic patients and social deprivation was highest in rural areas and lowest in metropolitan areas. Overall, 33% of patients used any palliative care and 77% received hospice services. After risk adjustment, there were no statistically significant differences in the use of palliative care for patients residing in metropolitan versus micropolitan, small town, or rural areas. Patients in small town (OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.69-0.86) and rural areas (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.66-0.85) had lower adjusted odds of receiving hospice care compared to patients in metropolitan areas. ConclusionsThe use of palliative care services captured in Medicare was low, representing either underutilization or failure to accurately measure the extent of services used. While the overall level of hospice enrollment was high, patients in rural communities had relatively lower use of hospice services compared to those in metropolitan areas.