Journal of pain and symptom management
-
In addition to the effectiveness of terminal care, policy makers and health care payers are concerned about the costs of treating terminal patients in a context of spiraling health care costs and limited resources. ⋯ Different approaches to deliver palliative care are not substitutes of each other and, thus, have different costs. From a cost perspective, hospitals need to pay attention to admitting patients to the palliative care unit at the right time.