The Success of Palliative Care in the US

Enhancing Service Delivery in U.S. Healthcare System

Any rehabilitative and chronic system aims at a cost-effective healthcare. The move towards the consideration of alternative methods to provide health care for patients emanates from the federal spending of over $2.5 trillion in 2010. The figure represents 17.6% of the nation's gross domestic product. An aging American population has demanded the need for an innovative and creative patient health care delivery system from the U.S. health care system. The new system promises to provide quality health care in a cost-effective manner that includes end-of-life care.

End-of-Life Care Environment Health Care System

Currently, the U.S. health care system primarily focuses on the provision of aggressive acute care for patients admitted to an inpatient facility. An enormous chunk of the budget spent, close to 80%, in the final months of the patients, covered costly aggressive treatments, resuscitation efforts, and ventilator support. Despite the expensive care, the patient outcomes did not improve. However, it increased patient's physical and emotional suffering. From the statistics, the pursuance of quality-of-life options has endeavored to utilize less-costly and less-aggressive treatments.

Palliative Care

In this type of care, primary focus delves towards relieving pain and suffering from patients who experience life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses. The population considered to fall under the tow illness brackets covers a variety of ages and other diagnostic categories. Patients living with recurrent or persistent conditions occur as a significant group under these categories. They experience conditions that may affect their life expectancy and daily functioning.

The program entails the identification and address of patient burdens cutting across the physical, spiritual, and psychological illness areas. Various aspects included in the provision of high-quality care include effective communication during transition processes, preparing the patient and family for the death of their beloved, and exploration of hospice options. Through such activities, the patient and family stand to benefit with the focus on improving the quality of life. Palliative care helps eliminate expensive treatments such as diagnostic imaging, intravenous antibiotics, and daily laboratory studies. In rural areas, researchers recommend the use of an advanced practice nurse (APN) in facilitating low-cost palliative health care services.

Purpose

Research questions guiding the assessment study on the cost-effectiveness of palliative care in a community hospital setting focused on the cost dynamics of this type of care compared to aggressive treatment. The cost comparisons stretched from daily, weekly, and end-of-hospitalization.

Methods

Design: The study utilized financial and demographic data from patients who passed away during the fiscal year of 2009.

Setting: The community setting employed in the study entailed a hospital with 145-bed capacity that served about 150,000 residents in four rural countries. Services provided by the hospital ranged from home health, hospice, surgical, medical, emergency, and obstetric.

Critique of the Study

Benefits of Palliative Health Care

The study undertaken from a community hospital setting occurs as evidence based as opposed to a research-based study. However, studies from various researchers also spice up the cost effectiveness of palliative care as opposed to other expensive, aggressive acute care techniques. The research reflected cost effectiveness with net savings of $273 a day on patients under palliative health care. Savings from aggressive treatment methods could cover costs for palliative care services. Patients in the palliative care system depicted longer lengths of stay as compared to their aggressive treatment counterparts.

Challenges experienced in the study