The 45% share of indirect costs is substantial in end-of-life care. The healthcare costs increase towards death, which is especially true of patients living alone. This highlights the significant role of caregivers. More attention should be paid to home care and caregiver support to reduce inpatient care needs and control the costs of end-of-life care.

Background: In order to avoid unnecessary use of hospital services at the end-of-life, palliative care should be initiated early enough in order to have sufficient time to initiate and carry out good quality advance care planning (ACP). This single center study assesses the impact of the PC decision and its timing on the use of hospital services at EOL and the place of death. Methods: A randomly chosen cohort of 992 cancer patients treated in a tertiary hospital between Jan 2013-Dec 2014, who were deceased by the end of 2014, were selected from the total number of 2737 identified from the hospital database. The PC decision (the decision to terminate life-prolonging anticancer treatments and focus on symptom centered palliative care) and use of PC unit services were studied in relation to emergency department (ED) visits, hospital inpatient days and place of death. Results: A PC decision was defined for 82% of the patients and 37% visited a PC unit. The earlier the PC decision was made, the more often patients had an appointment at the PC unit (> 180 days prior to death 72% and < 14 days 10%). The number of ED visits and inpatient days were highest for patients with no PC decision and lowest for patients with both a PC decision and an PC unit appointment (60 days before death ED visits 1.3 vs 0.8 and inpatient days 9.9 vs 2.9 respectively, p < 0.01). Patients with no PC decision died more often in secondary/tertiary hospitals (28% vs. 19% with a PC decision, and 6% with a decision and an appointment to a PC unit). Conclusions: The PC decision to initiate a palliative goal for the treatment had a distinct impact on the use of hospital services at the EOL. Contact with a PC unit further increased the likelihood of EOL care at primary care.

Background: To avoid aggressive treatments at the end-of-life and to provide palliative care (PC), physicians need to terminate futile anti-cancer treatments and define the palliative goal of the treatment in time. This single center study assesses the practices used to make the decision that leads to treatment with a palliative goal, i.e., the PC decision and its effect on anti-cancer treatments at the end of life. Material and methods: Patients with a cancer diagnosis treated in tertiary hospital during 1st January 2013-31st December 2014 and deceased by the end of 2014 were identified in the hospital database (N ¼ 2737). Of these patients, 992 were randomly selected for this study. The PC decision was screened from patient records, i.e., termination of cancer-specific treatments and a focus on symptom-centered PC. Results: The PC decision was defined in 82% of the patients during the last year of life (49% >30 days and 33% 30 days before death, 18% with no decision). The median time from the decision to death was 46 days. Systemic cancer therapy was given during the last month of life in 1%, 36% and 38% (p < .001) and radiotherapy 22%, 40% and 31% (p ¼ .03) cases, respectively; referral to a PC unit was made in 62%, 22% and 11%, respectively (p < .001). In logistic regression analyses younger age, shorter duration of the disease trajectory and type of cancer (e.g., breast cancer) were associated with a lack or late timing of the PC decision. Conclusion: The decision to initiate a palliative goal for the treatment was frequently made for cancer patients but occurred late for every third patient. Younger age and certain cancer types were associated with late PC decisions, thus leading to anti-cancer treatments continuing until close to the death with low access to a PC unit.

Background To avoid aggressive treatments at the end-of-life (EOL) and to provide palliative care (PC), physicians need to terminate futile anti-cancer treatments and define the palliative intention of the treatment in time, i.e. make the PC decision. This single center study assesses the impact of the PC decision and its timing on the use of hospital services at EOL and the place of death. Methods A randomly chosen cohort of 992 cancer patients treated in a tertiary hospital between Jan 2013 –Dec 2014, who were deceased by the end of 2014, were selected from the total number of 2737 identified from the hospital database. The PC decision and use of PC unit services were examined in relation to emergency department (ED) visits, hospital inpatient days and place of death. ResultsThe PC decision was defined for 82% of the patients and 37% visited a PC unit. The earlier the PC decision was made, the more often patients visited the PC unit (>180 days prior to death 72% and <14 days 10%). The number of ED visits and inpatient days were significantly highest for patients with no PC decision and lowest for patients with both a PC decision and a PC unit visit (60 days before death ED visits 1.3 vs 0.8 and inpatient days 9.9 vs 2.9 respectively, p<0.01). Patients with no PC decision died more often in secondary/tertiary hospitals (28% vs. 19% with a PC decision, and 6% with a decision and a visit to a PC unit). ConclusionsThe PC decision to initiate a palliative goal for the treatment had a distinct impact on the use of hospital services at the EOL. The earlier the decision the greater the effect. Contact with a PC unit further increased the likelihood of EOL care at primary care.

Background In order to avoid unnecessary use of hospital services at the end-of-life, palliative care should be initiated early enough in order to have time to initiate and carry out advance care planning (ACP). This single center study assesses the impact of the PC decision and its timing on the use of hospital services at EOL and the place of death. Methods A randomly chosen cohort of 992 cancer patients treated in a tertiary hospital between Jan 2013 –Dec 2014, who were deceased by the end of 2014, were selected from the total number of 2737 identified from the hospital database. The PC decision (the decision to terminate life-prolonging anticancer treatments and focus on symptom centered palliative care) and use of PC unit services were studied in relation to emergency department (ED) visits, hospital inpatient days and place of death. Results The PC decision was defined for 82% of the patients and 37% visited a PC unit. The earlier the PC decision was made, the more often patients had an appointment at the PC unit (>180 days prior to death 72% and <14 days 10%). The number of ED visits and inpatient days were highest for patients with no PC decision and lowest for patients with both a PC decision and an PC unit appointment (60 days before death ED visits 1.3 vs 0.8 and inpatient days 9.9 vs 2.9 respectively, p<0.01). Patients with no PC decision died more often in secondary/tertiary hospitals (28% vs. 19% with a PC decision, and 6% with a decision and an appointment to a PC unit). Conclusions The PC decision to initiate a palliative goal for the treatment had a distinct impact on the use of hospital services at the EOL. Contact with a PC unit further increased the likelihood of EOL care at primary care.