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Palliative Medicine, Vol. 15, No. 4, 271-278 (2001)
DOI: 10.1191/026921601678320250

Home palliative care as a cost-saving alternative: evidence from Catalonia

Mateu Serra-Prat

Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research, Catalan Heath Service: Department of Heath and Social Security, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona

Pedro Gallo

Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research, Catalan Heath Service, Department of Heath and Social Security, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona: Department of Sociology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona

Josep M Picaza

PADES Mataró, Catalan Institute of Health, Barcelona

The aim of this study was to provide a comparative assessment of the health care resources consumed during the final month of life of patients undergoing palliative treatment and who died from cancer in the town of Mataró, Spain, in 1998, with respect to whether they benefited from home care teams or not. Relevant differences in the use of health care resources were found between the groups. Patients in the standard care group presented more hospital care admissions and longer length of stay, higher use of emergency and outpatient visits, and greater use of palliative care units within nursing homes than patients in the home care group. The monetary quantification of the use of the above-mentioned resources showed a 71% increase in the cost per patient in the standard care when compared to home care. According to the results of this study, home care teams for terminal cancer patients allow for savings to the health care system. A series of policy making and health services research implications are discussed.

Key Words: palliative care • home care services • costs and cost analysis • health resources • neoplasms • terminally ill


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