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

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 undergo ing palliative treatment and who died from cancer in the town of Mataro, Sp ain, in 1998, with respect to whether they benefited from home care teams o r not. Relevant differences in the use of health care resources were found between the groups. Patients in the standard care group presented more hosp ital 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 all ow for savings to the health care system. A series of policy making and hea lth services research implications are discussed.