Abstract
Methods: Reviews published between 2000 and 2019 were included. We included reviews that focused on cost-effectiveness, intervention costs and/or healthcare resource use. Two reviewers extracted data independently and in duplicate from the included studies. Data on the key characteristics of the studies were extracted, including the aim of the study, design, population, type of intervention and comparator, (cost-) effectiveness resource use, main findings and conclusions.
Results: A total of 43 reviews were included in the analysis. Overall, most evidence on cost-effectiveness relates to home-based interventions and suggests that they offer substantial savings to the health system, including a decrease in total healthcare costs, resource use and improvement in patient and caregivers’ outcomes. The evidence of interventions delivered across other settings was generally inconsistent.
Conclusions: Some palliative care models may contribute to dual improvement in quality of care via lower rates of aggressive medicalization in the last phase of life accompanied by a reduction in costs. Hospital-based palliative care interventions may improve patient outcomes, healthcare utilization and costs. There is a need for greater consistency in reporting outcome measures, the informal costs of caring, and costs associated with hospice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 89 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | BMC Palliative Care |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 23 Jun 2021 |
Keywords
- End-of-life care
- Terminal care
- Palliative care
- Cost-effectiveness
- Health care costs
Access to Document
- Luta_2021_BMC-PC_Evidence-economic_CC
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