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Patients with incurable cancer and multiple comorbidities who consulted with a palliative care team within 2 days of hospitalization had significant savings in hospital costs, according to a new study.
The study also showed that the higher number of comorbidities a patient had, the greater the reduction in direct hospital costs with early palliative care as opposed to standard care.
Previous studies have shown a link between palliative care and lower costs, but this is the first to examine whether the effect of palliative care consultation varies by the number of co-existing chronic conditions.
“We already know that coordinated, patient-centered palliative care improves care quality, enhances survival, and reduces costs for persons with cancer,” said R. Sean Morrison, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.
“Our latest research now shows the strong association between cost and the number of co-occurring conditions. Among patients with advanced cancer and other serious illnesses, aggressive treatments are often inconsistent with patients’ wishes and are associated with worse quality of life compared to other treatments. It is imperative that policymakers act to expand access to palliative care.”
Dr Morrison and his colleagues described their research in Health Affairs.
The study included 906 patients with advanced cancer and multiple comorbidities who were treated at 6 hospitals. One hundred and ninety-three patients were seen by a palliative care team within 2 days of hospitalization, while the remaining 713 patients received usual care.
Patients from the palliative care group had significantly lower total direct hospital costs if they had multimorbidity. For patients with a comorbidity score of 0–1, the estimated mean treatment effect was not significant.
However, patients with a comorbidity score of 2–3 had a 22% reduction in costs, or a reduction of $2321. Patients with a score of 4 or higher had a cost reduction of 32%, or $3515.
“The fact that we found greater cost savings for cancer patients with more comorbidities than for those with fewer comorbidities raises the question of whether similar results would be observed in patients with other serious illnesses and multimorbidity,” said Peter May, of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.
“Future research is also needed to determine when in the course of illness palliative care is most cost-effective.” 
Photo courtesy of the CDC
Patients with incurable cancer and multiple comorbidities who consulted with a palliative care team within 2 days of hospitalization had significant savings in hospital costs, according to a new study.
The study also showed that the higher number of comorbidities a patient had, the greater the reduction in direct hospital costs with early palliative care as opposed to standard care.
Previous studies have shown a link between palliative care and lower costs, but this is the first to examine whether the effect of palliative care consultation varies by the number of co-existing chronic conditions.
“We already know that coordinated, patient-centered palliative care improves care quality, enhances survival, and reduces costs for persons with cancer,” said R. Sean Morrison, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.
“Our latest research now shows the strong association between cost and the number of co-occurring conditions. Among patients with advanced cancer and other serious illnesses, aggressive treatments are often inconsistent with patients’ wishes and are associated with worse quality of life compared to other treatments. It is imperative that policymakers act to expand access to palliative care.”
Dr Morrison and his colleagues described their research in Health Affairs.
The study included 906 patients with advanced cancer and multiple comorbidities who were treated at 6 hospitals. One hundred and ninety-three patients were seen by a palliative care team within 2 days of hospitalization, while the remaining 713 patients received usual care.
Patients from the palliative care group had significantly lower total direct hospital costs if they had multimorbidity. For patients with a comorbidity score of 0–1, the estimated mean treatment effect was not significant.
However, patients with a comorbidity score of 2–3 had a 22% reduction in costs, or a reduction of $2321. Patients with a score of 4 or higher had a cost reduction of 32%, or $3515.
“The fact that we found greater cost savings for cancer patients with more comorbidities than for those with fewer comorbidities raises the question of whether similar results would be observed in patients with other serious illnesses and multimorbidity,” said Peter May, of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.
“Future research is also needed to determine when in the course of illness palliative care is most cost-effective.”
Photo courtesy of the CDC
Patients with incurable cancer and multiple comorbidities who consulted with a palliative care team within 2 days of hospitalization had significant savings in hospital costs, according to a new study.
The study also showed that the higher number of comorbidities a patient had, the greater the reduction in direct hospital costs with early palliative care as opposed to standard care.
Previous studies have shown a link between palliative care and lower costs, but this is the first to examine whether the effect of palliative care consultation varies by the number of co-existing chronic conditions.
“We already know that coordinated, patient-centered palliative care improves care quality, enhances survival, and reduces costs for persons with cancer,” said R. Sean Morrison, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.
“Our latest research now shows the strong association between cost and the number of co-occurring conditions. Among patients with advanced cancer and other serious illnesses, aggressive treatments are often inconsistent with patients’ wishes and are associated with worse quality of life compared to other treatments. It is imperative that policymakers act to expand access to palliative care.”
Dr Morrison and his colleagues described their research in Health Affairs.
The study included 906 patients with advanced cancer and multiple comorbidities who were treated at 6 hospitals. One hundred and ninety-three patients were seen by a palliative care team within 2 days of hospitalization, while the remaining 713 patients received usual care.
Patients from the palliative care group had significantly lower total direct hospital costs if they had multimorbidity. For patients with a comorbidity score of 0–1, the estimated mean treatment effect was not significant.
However, patients with a comorbidity score of 2–3 had a 22% reduction in costs, or a reduction of $2321. Patients with a score of 4 or higher had a cost reduction of 32%, or $3515.
“The fact that we found greater cost savings for cancer patients with more comorbidities than for those with fewer comorbidities raises the question of whether similar results would be observed in patients with other serious illnesses and multimorbidity,” said Peter May, of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.
“Future research is also needed to determine when in the course of illness palliative care is most cost-effective.”