Staying in Hospice Proves Healthier

New study demonstrates the gap between hospice care and traditional care

Studies that prove the effectiveness of hospice are a favorite topic on this blog, and a new one, described here in a quote from an About.com article by RN Angela Morrow, has some telling figures comparing patients who continue or discontinue hospice care:

Cancer patients who disenroll from hospice care  -- meaning they had signed up for, then decided to discontinue, hospice care -- are more likely to be readmitted to the hospital and die there.  A study published in the October 1, 2010 issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology, "Impact of Hospice Disenrollment on Healthcare Use and Medical Expenditures for Patients with Caner", found that:
 

• 33.9% of patients who disenrolled in hospice care were admitted to an emergency department, compared to only 3.1% of hospice patients
      
• 39.8% of disenrolled patients were admitted to the hospital compared to only 1.6% of hospice patients
      
• Disenrolled cancer patients spent an average of 19.3 days hospitalized, hospice patients only spent an average of 6.7 days
   
• 9.6% of disenrolled patients died in the hospital while only 0.2% of hospice patients did
   
• The costs of caring for a disenrolled patient were nearly five times higher than caring for patients who remained on hospice

With such a large difference in all categories, hospice care seems the clear choice for comfort and ease of living at the end of life.