CANCER-PATIENTS - THE SURVIVAL AND EXPENSE OF TRADITIONAL CARE AND HOSPICE CARE

Hospice care is a reasonable treatment strategy for those cancer patie nts whose disease process is no longer responsive to standard treatmen t regimens or who are unable to tolerate the adverse side effects of c ontinued aggressive therapy. A 1:1 matched case-control study design t hat designated those patients selecting the hospice model of care as c ontrols and those receiving acute care as cases was utilized. Data was abstracted from medical records and financial billing statements. The difference between total hospital charges plus hospice charges during the last 6 months of life for the hospice patients ($35,625) compared to the non-hospice patients ($50,152) was statistically significant. The hospice model of care may be a less costly option for those cancer patients where palliation is the objective.