May P, Garrido MM, Cassel JB, Kelley AS, Meier DE, Normand C, Smith TJ, Morrison RS.
Palliat Med. 2017 Apr;31(4):378-386.
A prospective multi-site cohort study in three US hospitals included 863 patients with advanced cancer and analysed the cost-differences associated with early palliative care consultation (within 2 days of admission), later palliative care and usual care. 226 were seen by a palliative care team during their hospital admission (177 seen within 2 days of admission) and 637 received usual care only. This study showed that patients receiving early palliative care had less treatment and shorter length of stay; however there was minimal cost differences between the early and late palliative care consultations groups.
Composed by Elaine Boland.