Making palliative care work better for people with metastatic cancer
Official title: Determinants of Palliative Care Effectiveness for Patients with Metastatic Cancer
Funded at Columbia University Health Sciences · NIH-11129108 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project aims to find what helps specialist palliative care give better support and quality of life for people with metastatic cancer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R37 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | February 3, 2021 |
| Project end | January 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $521,713 |
| NIH project number | 4R37CA246565-06 |
| Project ID | NIH-11129108 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with metastatic or other advanced cancers—especially older adults covered by Medicare—are the patient group whose care patterns are being studied and who could be affected by the findings.
✕Less likely to help
People without advanced cancer, younger patients not covered by Medicare, or individuals outside the U.S. may not see direct benefit from this specific work.
What this research studies
From a patient's perspective, the team is linking national Medicare records with information about hospital and program palliative care features to see how specialist palliative care is actually used for people with advanced cancer. The investigators built a new national database that combines Medicare claims, program characteristics from the National Palliative Care Registry, and prospectively collected clinical information to track care patterns. That approach lets researchers identify who receives specialist palliative care, when it happens in the course of illness, and which program traits influence delivery. The goal is to find and reduce gaps so more patients get timely, high-quality palliative support.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help more patients with advanced cancer access timely specialist palliative care and improve quality of life near the end of life.
How similar studies have gone: Prior single-center and proxy-based studies have linked specialist palliative care to better end-of-life quality, but this national linked-database approach is newer and aims to overcome past limitations.
Where this research is happening
-
Columbia University Health Sciences
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hua, May — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Hua, May
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Understanding what makes palliative care effective for patients with metastatic cancer
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-
Improving palliative care access for Hispanic/Latino patients with metastatic cancer
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UNCOVER-PC: Helping people with advanced cancer and their families get better palliative care
A project at Emory aims to find the best ways to give palliative care early to people with advanced cancer and to understand how it helps patients and their caregivers.
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Digitally supported community workers helping HPB cancer patients receive early palliative care
A pilot program uses digital tools and community health workers to bring early palliative care and support to people with HPB cancers and their caregivers.
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Whole-Body Redox Maps to Guide Prostate Cancer Therapy
A new research project will map redox states across the body to understand how prostate cancer and its spread respond to therapy.
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Digital activity tracking to understand metastatic breast cancer care
A smartphone-based activity tracking study will help people with metastatic cancer better understand how daily movement relates to health and treatment outcomes.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.