Clinical question: Does time to consult after admission change the effect palliative care consultation has on cost of care?
Background: Studies have shown that early palliative care involvement improves quality of life and survival among cancer patients while reducing the cost of care. Little is known about the optimal timing of palliative care consultation and its effect on cost.
Study design: Prospective, observational study.
Setting: Multi-site, high-volume, tertiary care hospitals with established palliative care teams.
Synopsis: Clinical and cost data were collected for 969 adult patients with advanced cancer admitted to the five participating hospitals. Among those, 256 patients received palliative care consultation and 713 received usual care. Subsamples were created based on time to consultation after admission.
The study found that earlier consultation yielded larger effects on cost savings. There was a 24% reduction in total cost if consultation occurred within two days (95% CI, -$3,438 to -$1,122; P<0.001), with estimated savings of $2,280. For consultation within six days of admission, there was a $1,312 savings (95% CI, -$2,568 to -$ 1,122; P<0.04), consistent with a 14% reduction in total cost.
There are notable limitations to this study. Half of eligible patients were excluded due to incomplete data collection, resulting in a small sample size. Further, these results can be generalized only to inpatients with advanced cancer.
Bottom line: Reducing the time to consultation with palliative care increases cost savings. In advanced cancer patients, a 24% reduction in total costs was realized for consultation within two days following admission.
Citation: May P, Garrido MM, Cassel JB, et al. Prospective cohort study of hospital palliative care teams for inpatients with advanced cancer: earlier consultation is associated with larger cost-saving effect. J Clin Oncol. 2015;33(25):2745-2752.
