Monday, March 22, 2004
Palliative Care: Providing comfort to the dying
[Gautam Naik, "Unlikely Way to Cut Hospital Costs: Comfort the Dying," The Wall Street Journal, 10 March 2004.]
Often, counter-intuitive approaches to health-care can result in cost-savings, and in the case of palliative care, they may also be more humane:
The palliative-care unit at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center offers plush carpeting, original watercolors and a kitchen for visiting families. A massage therapist drops by often, and a chaplain is available 24 hours. And there's High Anxiety, a fluffy white Lhasa apso that patients love to pet.
In an era of skyrocketing health-care costs, such perks might seem misplaced. In fact, it is all part of an approach that has helped VCU save millions of dollars in an area that is notoriously expensive: treatment of patients diagnosed with incurable illnesses.
Palliative care focuses on comfort, not cure. It tries to relieve a patient's physical and psychological distress, instead of preserving life at any cost. Though palliative care is standard practice in some countries, especially in Britain, it has been slow to catch on in the U.S., where many doctors prefer to use the latest technology or drug to prolong a patient's life, if only for a few months. Fewer than 20 percent of community hospitals in the U.S. use the approach, according to the American Hospital Association.
Now, palliative care is getting new attention, not just because proponents view it as humane, but because it is usually cheaper than standard care. In 2002, there were palliative-care programs in 844 community hospitals, 18 percent more than in the previous year. In palliative programs, less money is spent on drugs, diagnostics, tests and last-ditch treatments.
At VCU, for instance, a typical five-day stint for a cancer patient cost $5,312 in the palliative wing -- 57 percent less than it cost to house a similar patient elsewhere in the hospital. VCU officials calculate that the 11-bed unit, which opened in May 2000, saved the hospital $1 million last year, when the palliative wing broke even for the first time.
(Thanks to Claude Thau for this story.)
[Gautam Naik, "Unlikely Way to Cut Hospital Costs: Comfort the Dying," The Wall Street Journal, 10 March 2004.]
Often, counter-intuitive approaches to health-care can result in cost-savings, and in the case of palliative care, they may also be more humane:
The palliative-care unit at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center offers plush carpeting, original watercolors and a kitchen for visiting families. A massage therapist drops by often, and a chaplain is available 24 hours. And there's High Anxiety, a fluffy white Lhasa apso that patients love to pet.
In an era of skyrocketing health-care costs, such perks might seem misplaced. In fact, it is all part of an approach that has helped VCU save millions of dollars in an area that is notoriously expensive: treatment of patients diagnosed with incurable illnesses.
Palliative care focuses on comfort, not cure. It tries to relieve a patient's physical and psychological distress, instead of preserving life at any cost. Though palliative care is standard practice in some countries, especially in Britain, it has been slow to catch on in the U.S., where many doctors prefer to use the latest technology or drug to prolong a patient's life, if only for a few months. Fewer than 20 percent of community hospitals in the U.S. use the approach, according to the American Hospital Association.
Now, palliative care is getting new attention, not just because proponents view it as humane, but because it is usually cheaper than standard care. In 2002, there were palliative-care programs in 844 community hospitals, 18 percent more than in the previous year. In palliative programs, less money is spent on drugs, diagnostics, tests and last-ditch treatments.
At VCU, for instance, a typical five-day stint for a cancer patient cost $5,312 in the palliative wing -- 57 percent less than it cost to house a similar patient elsewhere in the hospital. VCU officials calculate that the 11-bed unit, which opened in May 2000, saved the hospital $1 million last year, when the palliative wing broke even for the first time.
(Thanks to Claude Thau for this story.)
Comments:
Post a Comment
