Impact of palliative home care support on the quality and costs of care at the end of life: a population-level matched cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To evaluate the impact of palliative home care support on the quality of care and costs in the last 14 days of life.

Design

Matched cohort study using linked administrative databases.

Setting

All people who died in Belgium in 2012 (n=107 847).

Participants

8837 people who received palliative home care support in the last 720 to 15 days of life matched 1:1 by propensity score to 8837 people who received usual care.

Intervention

Receiving the allowance for palliative home patients, multidisciplinary palliative home care team visit or palliative nurse or physiotherapist visit at home.

Main outcome measures

Home death, number of family physician contacts, number of primary caregiver contacts, hospital death, hospital admission, intensive ca

SUBMITTER: Maetens A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6347879 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature