Evaluation of a hospital-based palliative support service with particular regard to financial outcome measures

The object of this study was a financial assessment of a hospital-based palliative support service, to be made by comparing the study group with a matched historical control group and a group of contemporary reference patients. The staff consisted of one full-time nurse supported by a surgeon one half-day per week. The patients in the study group utilized fewer institutional days than the control group, according to such parameters as duration of terminal hospitalization (P < 0.05), ratio of days at home to total inclusion days (P < 0.001), and days at home during last two months of life (P < 0.01). These three outcome measures all focus on the most care-intensive last months of life and appeared to be sensitive enough to identify economic advantages of palliative care intervention. The palliative support service defrayed its own costs and in excess of that saved another SK17000 per patient (US$2500).