Doctors Find Discussing End of Life Care Difficult to Patient, Study Finds

Doctors do know the importance of discussing the end of life care with their patients. But new study shows that many doctors still not sure how to discuss it with their patients.

Majority physicians like the idea of speaking to patients about planning for their death, but few have actually asked payment for these issue, according to a new poll released on Thursday.

Only 14% of physicians have pursued reimbursement for advance care planning conversations since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made the new benefit available in January, and 46% of physicians said they "frequently" or "sometimes" are "unsure of what to say" even though 95% of doctors support the new Medicare benefit.

Medicare do reimburse doctors $86 now to go over end-of-life care in an office visit that covers topics such as hospice, living wills and do-not-resuscitate orders. Known as "advance care planning," the conversations can take place in a hospital.

"Too many people with serious illness or at the end of life still receive care that's completely at odds with their own personal wishes," said Terry Fulmer, RN, PhD, president of the John A. Hartford Foundation.

The study questioned sampling of 736 physicians in 50 states.

"These conversations are just insanely difficult, whether in the emergency room or the hospital or the office," said Dr. Ziad Obermeyer, an emergency physician and Harvard Medical School professor, who was not involved with the survey.

Policy analysts are recommending end-of-life conversations to be implement actively not just to accommodate patients' want, but to save cost on aggressive medical interventions that patients and their families don't want and that won't prolong life.

Refent study discoverede nearly 40 percent of American patients dying with cancer got at least one chemotherapy treatment in the six months before they passed away, more than in six other countries studied. An average of about $18,500 was spent on U.S. hospital costs for patients in their last six months.

Next study will focus on nurses and other healthcare professionals to see how they react differently than Doctors.