ArticleBundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz2023
[Utilization of palliative care at the end of life in Germany: temporal trend (2016-2019) and regional variability].
Article in Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trial
- Effects of timely case conferencing between general practitioners and specialist palliative care services on symptom burden in patients with advanced chronic disease: results of the cluster-randomised controlled KOPAL trial.BMC palliative care · 2024Trial
- [Analgesics and supportive care in the last month of life : Retrospective analysis of outpatient prescriptions using BARMER data from patients with oncological diseases (2016-2021)].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2026Article
- Quantifying spatial accessibility to inpatient hospices in Germany.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Digital health in palliative care: use is largely limited to conventional technologies - a cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- FuturePall: Forecasting the specialized inpatient palliative care in Germany based on demographic trends and utilization rates.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Hospital-to-hospice transfers in Germany: analyzing the impact of age and gender at the care transition interface.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Article
- Epidemiology and palliative care of in-patient cerebral metastases cases in Germany.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Article
- Utilization and quality of primary and specialized palliative homecare in nursing home residents vs. community dwellers: a claims data analysis.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Specialised palliative care in nursing homes - Retrospective analysis on the basis of claims data.PloS one · 2025Article
- "Let's put it this way: you can't really live without it" - digital technologies in routine palliative care delivery: an explorative qualitative study with patients and their family caregivers in Germany.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Medical Specialties Providing Outpatient Palliative Care-a Comparison Across Regions Based on German Statutory Health Insurance Claims Data.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2024Article
- End-of-life care in Germany between 2016 and 2020 - A repeated cross-sectional analysis of statutory health insurance data.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Utilization and quality of palliative care in patients with hematological and solid cancers: a population-based study.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2024Article
- A refined ICD-10 diagnoses-based approach for retrospective analysis of potential palliative care need and coverage in claims data of deceased.SAGE open medicine · 2024Article
- Structural characteristics and contractual terms of specialist palliative homecare in Germany.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- [A regional comparison of outcomes quality and costs of general and specialized palliative care in Germany: a claims data analysis].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2023Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Germany, palliative care (PC) is provided on a homecare, inpatient, general, and specialized basis. Since little is currently known about the temporal course and regional differences in the forms of care, the present study was aimed to investigate this.
methodIn a retrospective routine data study with 417,405 BARMER-insured persons who died between 2016 and 2019, we determined the utilization rates of primary PC (PPC), specially qualified and coordinated palliative homecare (PPC+), specialized palliative homecare (SPHC), inpatient PC, and hospice care on the basis of services billed at least once in the last year of life. We calculated time trends and regional variability and controlled for needs-related patient characteristics and access-related county of community characteristics.
resultsFrom 2016 to 2019, total PC increased from 33.8 to 36.2%, SPHC from 13.3 to 16.0% (max: Rhineland-Palatinate), and inpatient PC from 8.9 to 9.9% (max: Thuringia). PPC decreased from 25.8 to 23.9% (min: Brandenburg) and PPC+ came in at 4.4% (max: Saarland) in 2019. Hospice care remained constant at 3.4%. Regional variability in utilization rates remained high, increased for PPC and inpatient PC from 2016 to 2019, and decreased for SPHC and hospice care. The regional differences were also evident after adjustment.
conclusionIncreasingly more SPHC, less PPC, and high regional variability, which cannot be explained by demand- or access-related characteristics, indicate that the use of PC forms is oriented less to demand than to regionally available care capacities. In view of the growing need for palliative care due to demographic factors and decreasing personnel resources, this development must be viewed critically.
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