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Studies Investigate Health Care at End of Life Publish date: Mar 10, 2009  TUESDAY, Mar. 10 (HealthDay News) -- End-of-life health care may be associated with feelings of abandonment, and its associated
costs are lower after physician-patient communication but higher among minorities, according to a series of studies published
in the Mar. 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Anthony L. Back, M.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and colleagues interviewed 55 terminally
ill patients, along with their physicians and caregivers. Two themes were identified through these interviews: a loss of continuity
between the patient and physician contributed to concerns of abandonment prior to death, and a lack of closure resulting in
feelings of abandonment among patients and families at the time of death or after. Linda Ganzini, M.D., of the Portland Veterans'
Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Ore., and colleagues found that worries of future physical discomfort and loss of self-sufficiency
are important motivations for considering physician aid in dying among 56 Oregonians surveyed. Baohui Zhang, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues report that patients with advanced terminal cancer who
had an end-of-life conversation with their physician had significantly lower health care costs during their final week of
life compared with those that did not ($1,876 versus $2,917, respectively). Higher costs in that final week were significantly
associated with a worse quality of death. Amresh Hanchate, Ph.D., of the Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues
found that end-of-life costs were 32 percent and 57 percent higher for blacks and Hispanics, respectively. "At life's end, black and Hispanic decedents have substantially higher costs than whites. More than half of these cost
differences are related to geographic, sociodemographic and morbidity differences," Hanchate and colleagues write. An author of the final study reports a relationship with DxCG Inc., whose company's software was used to measure morbidity
burden. Abstract - Back Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved. |   Practice Tools Coding Counselor Simple and accurate ICD-9 code search. Start Here  Formulary Counselor Find health plan drug coverage in your area. Start Here  Patient Education Print customized patient education handouts. Start Here  Surgical Video Center On-demand surgery demos and presentations. Start Here    
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