Supportive Transfusion Program for Patients With Hematologic Malignancies: A Cluster Randomized Trial

Lack of access to blood transfusions is a key barrier to timely hospice use for patients with blood cancers. Refractory anemia and thrombocytopenia are common for patients with blood cancers and result in debilitating fatigue, shortness of breath, and bleeding. Transfusions palliate these symptoms and improve quality of life (QOL); yet, most hospices do not provide access to transfusions. Patients are thus faced with the agonizing choice of preserving access to vital palliative transfusions versus accessing quality home-based hospice care. Patients with blood cancers and their caregivers report that transfusions are vital for their quality of life, and that access to transfusions is a key factor in deciding whether to opt for hospice care.

The study team has thus developed a new model of care (HEME-Hospice) that provides access to palliative home transfusions to patients with hematologic malignancies who are enrolled in hospice. The purpose of this study is to determine whether access to HEME-hospice versus usual care improves hospice enrollment rates, quality of life (QOL), mood, and end-of-life healthcare utilization for patients with hematologic malignancies as well as QOL and mood of their caregivers. This study is a cluster randomized trial in which hematologic oncologists will be randomly assigned to access to HEME-Hospice versus usual care. Participants in this study will have access to HEME-hospice or usual care based upon the strategy to which their hematologic oncologist has been assigned.