Project Overview

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The Hospital-Based Palliative Care Consortium (HBPCC) is a program that provides hospitals and health systems across the country with the opportunity to visit palliative care learning centers in order to improve and advance new, hospital-based end-of-life services. Established by the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), and managed by the Health Research and Educational Trust, HBPCC is funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The HBPCC program, provided at no charge to interested hospitals, can be divided into three phases—pre-site visit, the site visit to a palliative care program at a host hospital (“learning lab”), and post-site visit networking and technical support.

During phase one, a hospital interested in establishing or further developing its palliative care program receives materials that will help its planning committee prepare for the program and evaluate their institution’s needs and goals. Materials and resources that guide the participants through the major steps of establishing a palliative care program comprise the curriculum and serve as the learning-base for all HBPCC participants. Prior to site visits, participating hospital teams review the curriculum and complete various surveys to gauge an institution’s strengths and weaknesses and to help the learning lab in constructing the most appropriate and individualized site visit possible.

Site visits occur during phase two.  Approximately two weeks prior to the visit, the learning lab contact person and a representative from the visiting hospital will have a phone conversation to review the needs and goals of the visitors. The site visit is a one-day visit to a learning lab, during which the participating hospital has the opportunity to learn first-hand about a successfully implemented palliative care program and how to transfer that information and approaches to its own situation.

HBPCC will provide a program survey for completion at the end of the day and a CD-ROM Toolkit, consisting of various material samples and templates that will assist the visitors as they begin the process of implementation. Learning labs are encouraged to supplement the visit with any materials, power point presentations, etc., that they have found useful in their experiences.

Finally, post-site visit, the participating hospitals will have opportunities to receive feedback and support as they implement their new program. An HBPCC website will provide updated information, announcements, tools and resources. An electronic listserv will facilitate information sharing and support among participating hospitals, learning labs, and project staff. Participating hospitals will be asked to complete additional surveys and evaluations post-program in order to measure the efficacy and success of the HBPCC.

Seven hospitals have been selected to participate as learning labs and are hosting site visits in 2008:

• Connecticut Hospice, Branford, Connecticut
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
• Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit, Michigan
• Geisinger Health System, Danville, Pennsylvania
• Palo Alto VA Health Care System, Palo Alto, California
• St. John’s Regional Health Center, Springfield, Missouri
• University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Learning labs are selected based on their commitment to high quality end-of-life and palliative care. It is the program’s goal that through sharing this commitment and success with other hospitals, it will provide the support needed for hospitals to develop their own capacity to deliver hospital-based palliative care services.

For more information, please contact Deb Bohr, Project Director, at (646) 678-4280 or dbohr@aha.org.