UT Southwestern's Palliative Care Program: Measurable Patient Impact and Cost-savings.

UT Southwestern's Palliative Care Program: Measurable Patient Impact and Cost-savings. J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2019 Jun 13;:1-4 Authors: Bird A, Leach S, Houck S, Robinson K, Lawson T Abstract The purpose of this analysis was to measure the impact of palliative care services on hospital charges in the 5 days prior to death-the most expensive time of a patient's life-and identify hospital service categories and patient financial classes yielding the highest savings from palliative care. The analysis population included UT Southwestern patients admitted to the hospital between October 1, 2013, and September 30, 2016. Palliative care patients were defined as any patient who received at least one completed palliative care order. In order to create an accurate comparison group, a propensity score match was generated to identify patients most likely to have qualified for a palliative care consult. Covariates included in the model were age, sex, race, financial class, and number of comorbidities. Comorbidities were identified using the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, and all charges were pulled for the 5 days prior to death. Total hospital charges were also reported by hospital service and financial class. Statistical significance was then derived using a gamma distributed log-linked generalized linear model. The final population included in the analysis, post the propensity score match, was composed of mostly white, non-Hispanic ma...
Source: Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy - Category: Palliative Care Tags: J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother Source Type: research