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Paediatric palliative care improves patient outcomes and reduces healthcare costs: evaluation of a home-based program

P H Chong1, J A De Castro Molina2, K Teo2

  • 1HCA Hospice Care, Singapore, Singapore. pohhengC@hcahospicecare.org.sg.

BMC Palliative Care
|January 5, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Home-based paediatric palliative care improves quality of life and reduces costs for children with life-limiting conditions. Patients spent more time at home, had fewer hospital admissions, and caregivers reported less burden.

Area of Science:

  • Paediatric Palliative Care
  • Health Services Research
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis

Background:

  • Limited research exists on the utility and impact of various paediatric palliative care models.
  • Home-based paediatric palliative care aims to meet the unique needs of children with life-limiting conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare patient outcomes and healthcare expenditures between home-based paediatric palliative care and standard care.
  • To evaluate the longitudinal impact of home-based paediatric palliative care on quality of life and caregiver burden.

Main Methods:

  • A three-year impact and cost evaluation of Singapore's Star PALS programme.
  • Utilized retrospective and prospective designs with two patient groups.

Main Results:

  • Patients receiving home-based care spent 52 more days at home in their last year of life and had fewer hospital admissions.
  • Home-based care patients were five times more likely to have an advance care plan and incurred up to 87% lower medical costs.
  • Improvements were observed in patients' quality of life (pain, emotion) and caregiver burden within the first year.

Conclusions:

  • Home-based paediatric palliative care enhances resource utilization and achieves cost savings for patients and providers.
  • The programme improves the quality of life for both terminally ill children and their caregivers, allowing more quality time at home.
  • Validated benefits of community paediatric palliative care can inform policy and service commissioning.
Abstract

Keywords:
Caregiver burdenCostsEffectivenessEvaluationHealth-related quality of lifePaediatricsPalliative care

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