These efforts appear to have been successful in developing the perception
among physicians that the IPCP program was a good one and
that the care provided appropriately matched patient needs and wishes.
These messages seem to have been a central facilitator of the referral
process and thus the dissemination of this innovation. Almost all highreferring
physicians, as well as some low-referring internal medicine
physicians, commented during interviews that they saw the program as
a great one and that they viewed the availability of home care and the
option for patients to continue treatment as major assets of the program.
A few physicians also articulated their belief that palliative care is desirable
because it is cost effective. These physicians indicated that awareness
of these features made them more likely to refer patients. One
referring physician even commented that he “[sees] this program as the
kind of program [he’d] want to be in at the end of his life.”