Resource utilisation and costs of palliative cancer care in an interdisciplinary health care model

Palliat Med. 2009 Jul;23(5):448-59. doi: 10.1177/0269216309103193. Epub 2009 Apr 7.

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed description of health care resource utilisation and costs of a pilot interdisciplinary health care model of palliative home care in Ontario, Canada. The descriptive evaluation entailed examining the use of services and costs of the pilot program: patient demographics, length of stay broken down by disposition (discharged, alive, death), access to services/resources, use of family physician and specialist services, and drug use. There were 434 patients included in the pilot program. Total costs were approximately CAN$2.4 million, and the cost per person amounted to approximately CAN$5586.33 with average length of stay equal to over 2 months (64.22 days). One may assume that length of stay would be influenced by the amount of service and support available. Future research might investigate whether in-home palliative home care is the most cost effective and suitable care setting for those patients requiring home care services for expected periods of time.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Female
  • Health Resources / economics
  • Health Resources / statistics & numerical data*
  • Health Services Accessibility / economics
  • Home Care Services / economics*
  • Home Care Services / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Length of Stay / economics*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasms / economics
  • Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Ontario
  • Palliative Care / economics*
  • Patient Care Team / economics*
  • Patient Care Team / statistics & numerical data
  • Pilot Projects
  • Program Evaluation
  • Young Adult