A study of palliative care (PC) in rural communities in the U.S., conducted by the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center at the University of Washington School of Medicine, surveyed hospitals and hospital-based palliative clinicians about access PC services.

Researchers looked at the types of PC services offered by hospitals including in-patient units, outpatient PC programs, and hospice. A smaller proportion of rural hospitals (69.1%) than urban hospitals (75.9%) reported providing PC services.

PC services were inequitably distributed across rural counties. Counties without PC services had higher poverty rates, lower levels of education, and higher proportions of Black and American Indian/Alaska Native populations. Interviewees at small, rural hospitals reported that key facilitators for offering PC services included community collaboration, the availability of informal support networks, staff willingness to develop and employ innovative methods to deliver services, and affiliations with larger urban health care systems that can offer resources and support.