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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study finds better care can equate to saving money when it comes to caring for the sickest patients. The study finds hospitals can save more than $300 a day by using a palliative care program.
Palliative care is a medical subspecialty focused on relief of pain and other symptoms of serious illness. Palliative care once was only available to those at home in a hospice program, but by 2006, more than 41 percent of U.S. hospitals reported having such a program.
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The number of patients in the hospital with advanced illnesses increases as the population ages. This new research shows helping patients with palliative care programs saves the hospital between $279 and $374 per day. Pharmacy, laboratory and intensive care costs all had reductions. Researchers say this means a savings of more than $1.3 million for a 300-bed community hospital and twice that for the average academic medical center.
The potential to reduce the suffering of millions of Americans is enormous, says Diane Meier, MD, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, a national organization based at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. This study proves that better care can go hand in hand with a better bottom line.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2008
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