Background: Palliative care aims to improve quality of life by relieving physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. Health system planning can be informed by evaluating cost and effectiveness of health care delivery, including palliative care.
Aim: The objectives of this article were to describe and critically appraise economic evaluations of palliative care models and to identify cost-effective models in improving patient-centered outcomes.
Design: We conducted a systematic review and registered our protocol in PROSPERO (CRD42016053973).
Data Sources: A systematic search of nine medical and economic databases was conducted and extended with reference scanning and gray literature. Methodological quality was assessed using the Drummond checklist.
Results: We identified 12,632 articles and 5 were included. We included two modeling studies from the United States and England, and three economic evaluations from England, Australia, and Italy. Two studies compared home-based palliative care models to usual care, and one compared home-based palliative care to no care. Effectiveness outcomes included hospital readmission prevented, days at home, and palliative care symptom severity. All studies concluded that palliative care was cost-effective compared to usual care. The methodological quality was good overall, but three out of five studies were based on small sample sizes.
Conclusion: Applicability and generalizability of evidence is uncertain due to small sample sizes, short duration, and limited modeling of costs and effects. Further economic evaluations with larger sample sizes are needed, inclusive of the diversity and complexity of palliative care populations and using patient-centered outcomes.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269216319875906 | DOI Listing |
Purpose: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the association between the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes-Palliative Care (ECHO-PC; ECHO Model-Based comprehensive educational and telementoring intervention) for health care professionals (HCPs) and change in patient-reported quality-of-life (QOL; Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General [FACT-G]) among patients with advanced cancer. We also examined the association between ECHO-PC and changes in symptom distress (Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale [ESAS]), patient experience and satisfaction, and caregiver distress scores.
Methods: ECHO-PC Clinic sessions were conducted twice a month for 1 year by an interdisciplinary team of PC clinicians at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, with participation of experts in PC in sub-Saharan Africa, using standardized curriculum on the basis of PC needs in the region.
N Z Med J
January 2025
Professor, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
Aim: Patient barriers to accessing hospice and palliative care (PC) have been well studied. Important, yet less investigated, is how cancer patients whose hospice referrals were not accepted are being cared for. This article aims to understand the referral process from PC providers' perspectives and the implications of the current palliative system for patients, families and health professionals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJNCI Cancer Spectr
January 2025
Division of General Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Background: Early palliative care is associated with better outcomes for patients with advanced-stage cancers. Using a novel data linkage, we assessed outpatient palliative care use before death and its association with end-of-life care intensity and variation across eight provider networks.
Methods: We linked Massachusetts Cancer Registry and the All-Payer Claims Database for individuals with commercial insurance, Medicaid or Medicare Advantage diagnosed with colorectal, lung, prostate, and breast cancers from 2010 through 2013 who died by December 31, 2014.
Pain
January 2025
Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
Rapid declines in opioid analgesics dispensed in American communities since 2011 raise concerns about inadequate access to effective pain management among patients for whom opioid therapies are appropriate, especially for those living in racial/ethnic minority and socioeconomically deprived communities. Using 2011 to 2021 national data from the Automated Reports and Consolidated Ordering System and generalized linear models, this study examined quarterly per capita distribution of oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine (in oral morphine milligram equivalents [MMEs]) by communities' racial/ethnic and socioeconomic profiles. Communities (defined by 3-digit-zip codes areas) were classified as "majority White" (≥50% self-reported non-Hispanic White population) vs "majority non-White.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQual Life Res
January 2025
Health Services Research Group, Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
Purpose: To systematically review qualitative studies on outcomes, needs, experiences, preferences, concerns and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of people surviving cancer in Europe in the last decade.
Methods: Protocol registered ( https://www.crd.
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