Impact of an initial supportive oncology clinic visit on hospitalizations and emergency department visits.

150 Background: Hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits can be frequent, costly and discordant with stated goals-of-care for cancer patients. Little is known about the impact of outpatient palliative care and supportive oncology on hospitalizations and ED visits. Our aim was to investigate the impact of an initial visit at an outpatient supportive oncology clinic (SOC) on patient hospitalizations and ED visits. Methods: New patients were referred to a SOC from our health system’s oncologists from November 1, 2014 through January 31, 2015. Visits include a structured symptom assessment and personalized treatment plan from the clinic’s physician and/or nurse practitioner. Data were collected 90 days retrospectively and 90 days prospectively from 134 consecutive initial SOC visits. Descriptive statistics were calculated. We used the Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare the mean number of hospitalizations and ED visits in the 90 days prior and 90 days post a patient’s first SOC visit. Results: M...