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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Richard D. Brumley, MD, Continuing Care, Kaiser Permanente TriCentral Service Area, 12200 Bellflower Blvd., Bellflower, CA 90242, 562-622-4246, richard.d.brumley@kp.org and Susan M. Enguidanos, MPH, School of Social Work, University of Southern California and Partners In Care Foundation, 101 S. First Street, Suite 1000, Burbank, CA 91502.
Studies have shown that many chronically ill patients die in pain (Lynn et al., 2000) and that end-of-life care has been estimated to represent between 10% and 12% of our nations total health care costs (Scitovsky, 1994; Emanuel & Emanuel, 1994). Traditionally designed to focus on curative or restorative care as opposed to palliative care, our health care system lacks the necessary infrastructure to adequately provide care for patients at the end of life. Methods: The paper presented here shares the results of a two-year study implemented at Kaiser Permanente testing a home based model of end of life palliative care. Patients enrolled in the Palliative Care Program comprised the treatment group and were matched with a comparison group obtained from home health referrals. Palliative care focuses on alleviating the physical, emotional, social and spiritual discomforts of an individual with a terminal illness who is in the last phases of life. The goals of this intervention are pain control, symptom management, and psychosocial support aimed at enhancing quality of life and providing spiritual-emotional comfort for the patient and family. Results: Palliative Care patients had significantly higher satisfaction with services at 60 days following enrollment and fewer emergency room visits, hospital days, skilled nursing facility days, and physician visits then those in the comparison group. Overall, this change in service use represented a statistical significant decrease in cost for the Palliative Group. There was no significant difference between groups in quality of life.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: End-of-Life Care, Managed Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Kaiser Permanente TriCentral Service Area
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment