With just about half of patients getting access to palliative care - a medical specialty that focuses on relieving pain, anxiety and depression associated with the underlying disease and treatment - the nation earned a "C."

So did Utah. Just nine out of 16 Utah hospitals included in the study offer palliative care.

Studies have shown that patients who use palliative care are less likely to die in the hospital and don't have to go to intensive care as often in their last months of life. But unlike hospice care, patients don't need to be terminally ill for the services.

And, as seen in the rest of the country, Utah patients who go to for-profit hospitals have the least access to palliative care.

St. Mark's Hospital, in Salt Lake County and owned by MountainStar, is the only for-profit that provides the service. A spokeswoman said the other five MountainStar hospitals are considering it. Iasis, which owns four hospitals, including Salt Lake Regional and Davis Hospital, does not plan to offer the service.

Utah's biggest hospitals - University of Utah, Utah Valley and Intermountain Medical - do. So do most of the state's larger nonprofits, all owned by Intermountain Healthcare.

The report was written by the Center to Advance Palliative Care and the National Palliative Care Research Center.

- Heather May