Abstract 19509: Palliative Care and Hospital Readmissions in Patients With Advanced Heart Failure: Insights From the PAL-HF Trial

Background: The PAL-HF trial intervention improved quality of life (QOL) compared to usual care in advanced heart failure (HF) patients. Patients with end-stage HF have a significant symptom burden that is often managed in the hospital despite patient preferences to reduce readmissions. Whether a palliative care intervention can reduce the burden of readmissions in advanced HF patients has not been well characterized. Hypothesis: The PAL-HF intervention will be associated with a reduction in total readmissions and more days alive and out of the hospital (DAOH) over the 6 month follow-up period compared to usual care. Methods: PAL-HF was a single center, randomized controlled trial of a multidisciplinary palliative care intervention compared to usual care in 150 patients with advanced HF (N=75 per study arm). We evaluated the total burden of all-cause readmissions and DAOH with the palliative care intervention compared to usual care. Results: In PAL-HF, the median age was 72 (62-80) years, 47% were female,...