This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Eagar, K. Articles by Smith, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Eagar, K. Articles by Smith, M. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Palliative Care Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

An Australian casemix classification for palliative care: lessons and policy implications of a national study

Robert Gordon

Janette Green

Centre for Health Service Development, University of Wollongong, Wollongong

Michael Smith

Western Sydney Area Health Service, Westmead Hospital, Westmead

Objectives: To provide a nontechnical discussion of the development of a palliative care casemix classification and some policy implications of its implementation. Sample: 3866 palliative care patients who, in a three month period, had 4596 episodes of care provided by 58 palliative care services in Australia and New Zealand. Method: A detailed clinical and service utilization profile was collected on each patient with staff time and other resources measured on a daily basis. A statistical summary of the clinical variables was compiled as the first stage of the analysis. Results: Palliative care phase was found to be a good predictor of resource use, with patients fairly evenly distributed across the five categories. Clients treated in an inpatient setting had poorer function and higher symptom severity scores than those treated in an ambulatory setting, a result that is not surprising in this Australian setting. Discussion: Implementation of the resultant AN-SNAP classification has been proceeding since 1998 in some Australian jurisdictions. The development and implementation of a classification such as AN-SNAP provides the possibility of having a consistent approach to collecting palliative care data in Australia as well as a growing body of experience on how to progressively improve the classification over time.

Key Words: ambulatory care • case mix • casemix • classi"cation • palliative care • stage of illness

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 18, No. 3, 227-233 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0269216304pm876oa


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M Agar, D Currow, J Plummer, R Seidel, R Carnahan, and A. Abernethy Changes in anticholinergic load from regular prescribed medications in palliative care as death approaches Palliative Medicine, April 1, 2009; 23(3): 257 - 265. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. C. Currow, K. Eagar, S. Aoun, D. Fildes, P. Yates, and L. J. Kristjanson Is It Feasible and Desirable to Collect Voluntarily Quality and Outcome Data Nationally in Palliative Oncology Care? J. Clin. Oncol., August 10, 2008; 26(23): 3853 - 3859. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Cartoni, G. A. Brunetti, G. M. D'Elia, M. Breccia, P. Niscola, M. G. Marini, A. Nastri, G. Alimena, F. Mandelli, and R. Foa Cost analysis of a domiciliary program of supportive and palliative care for patients with hematologic malignancies Haematologica, May 1, 2007; 92(5): 666 - 673. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]