Patients receiving palliative care via telehealth reported similar quality-of-life scores compared to those who had in-person care, according to a multicenter clinical trial recently published in JAMA.

While previous research has shown consistent palliative care results in better patient outcomes, including extending patient survival, the effects of virtual visits have not been well-studied, said Melanie Smith, ’10 MD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine and a co-author of the study.

“Even though the recommendation is to provide early palliative care, it’s often not done. There are not enough palliative care clinicians to see every advanced lung cancer patient monthly, let alone patients with other types of cancer,” Smith said. “In this study, we’re looking to see if there are other ways to get patients regular palliative care while seeing the same benefits.”

In the study, Smith and her collaborators surveyed 1,250 advanced lung cancer patients assigned to receive palliative care either in person or via video call once a month. After five months, patients in both groups reported similar quality-of-life scores, according to the study.

Investigators also surveyed the patients’ caregivers, who reported similar quality of life in both groups.

“It’s very reassuring to know that we have this other modality to provide palliative care that is more convenient and saves money for a lot of patients, without compromising benefits to patients or caregivers,” Smith said.

Following up on this clinical trial, Smith and her collaborators will continue to study the impacts of telehealth palliative care, including differences in patient age and computer savviness, she said.

“We’re going to continue to follow these patients past the 24-week mark,” Smith said. “We’re hoping to look at subgroups to see if there were certain patients that benefited more from video versus in-person visits.”

The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grant R-1609-35995, with additional funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.