EOM 3: Percentage of Patients who Died from Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy in the Last 14 Days of Life

This is a claims-based measure every 6-month performance period

MEASURE DESCRIPTION

Percentage of patients who died during the episode receiving chemotherapy in the last 14 days of life. 

Exclusion/Exceptions: None

Risk Adjustment: None 

Scoring: Up to 12 points

Relevance to Value Based Care

Chemotherapy utilization at the end of life is associated  with worse quality of life among patients with good baseline performance status (2), increased  ED visits, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, dying in an ICU (3), and higher estimated costs of care (4-5). Yet, as described in the following section, overutilization of  chemotherapy in the last two weeks of life persists. The 2015 Institute of Medicine report Dying  in America states that a palliative approach often offers the best chance of maintaining the highest possible quality of life for those living with advanced serious illness (6) and proposes, as a core component to quality end-of-life care, to offer palliative care services and personalize  revision of the care plan and access to services based on the changing needs of the patient and  family (6). The purpose of this measure is to encourage timely enrollment in palliative care that  focuses on symptom management, rather than low utility and aggressive treatments, among  dying cancer patients. The ultimate outcome is improved quality of life, positive death experience, and reduction in resource utilization costs.

 RESOURCES