Impact of a complex intervention in primary care for patients with palliative care needs in their healthcare utilization: a before-after study

OBJECTIVES: Palliative care development in primary care is crucial worldwide. This study reports on the secondary outcomes of a study that evaluated whether a complex intervention in primary care for patients with palliative care needs impacted their healthcare utilization. METHODS: A before-after study was conducted with family physicians and patients with palliative care needs. Physicians received palliative care training and implemented a new primary palliative care consultation model. Healthcare utilization in the 12 weeks before, during, and after the intervention was compared. RESULTS: We analysed healthcare utilization for 33 patients with advanced disease. Pre-intervention, there were high rates of no medical consultations, emergency visits, hospital admissions, and outpatient referrals (84.8%, 75.8%, 81.8%, and 84.8%, respectively). Despite slight reductions during and after the intervention, the differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The reduction in healthcare utilization was not statistically significant, but the data inform sample size calculations for future economic analyses. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID - NCT05244590. Registration: 14th February 2022.