I actually listened to that talk by Dr. Downar, and I was confused as to whether he said 98% or 88% of those who did not have palliative care had access to it.
I think there are huge problems with the federal public reporting because it's done by people who fill out a yes-or-no short-order form and often don't have extreme knowledge of palliative care. This data is at best deeply flawed, and at worst it's meaningless. We are told it's a critical component for supporting transparency and fostering public trust in the application of the law, but I do not feel it meets that goal.