Palliative Care Cuts Costs for Metastatic Cancer – Renal and Urology News

Providing palliative care to inpatients with metastatic cancer can significantly reduce hospital costs and charges billed to insurance, according to research published in JCO Oncology Practice.

Researchers found that inpatient palliative care was associated with reductions in charges and costs, regardless of a patient’s age or whether they received aggressive interventions.

For this study, the researchers evaluated 397,691 hospitalizations for metastatic cancer occurring from 2010 to 2019. The patients were taken from the National Inpatient Sample, were 18 years of age or older, and had a primary diagnosis of metastatic cancer.

The number of hospitalizations decreased 18.7% over the study period, from 46,492 in 2010 to 37,818 in 2019. The median length of hospital stay remained stable over time, at 5 days.

The costs to hospitals remained stable over time as well, but the charges billed to insurance increased over time. The median adjusted cost per hospital admission was $14,288 in 2010 and $14,312 in 2019. The median adjusted charge per admission increased by 24.9%, from $44,904 in 2010 to $56,098 in 2019.

In a multivariable analysis, the use of palliative care was associated with significantly lower charges (odds ratio [OR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.61-0.64; P <.001) and costs (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.58-0.61; P <.001). In an adjusted analysis, palliative care was associated with a 13.6% reduction in hospital costs per admission.

The proportion of patients who received palliative care was 15.7% overall — 10.1% in 2010 and 19.5% in 2019. The researchers calculated that increasing the proportion of patients who received palliative care to 24% would result in $61.7 million in annual national savings or $20.6 million in incremental savings.

Aside from palliative care, the other factors associated with lower charges and costs in this study were Black race (vs White), rural hospital (vs urban teaching or non-teaching hospital), and Medicaid-billed admissions (vs Medicare or private insurance).

Factors associated with greater charges and costs included receipt of invasive medical ventilation or tracheostomy, receipt of systemic therapy, younger age, and Hispanic ethnicity. Private, for-profit hospitals were more likely to bill higher charges but less likely to incur higher costs (vs public or non-profit hospitals).

Disclosures: Some study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.

This article originally appeared on Cancer Therapy Advisor