Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Study: Doctor-patient conversations at end of life associated with lower medical expenses

Published in Clinical Oncology Week, March 23rd, 2009

BOSTON--Few physicians are eager to discuss end-of-life care with their patients. Yet such conversations may result in better quality of life for patients and could lower national healthcare expenditures for cancer care alone by tens of millions dollars each year, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

As reported in the March 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, investigators interviewed 603 advanced cancer patients about whether they had an end-of-life (EOL) conversation with their physician. The researchers calculated the final week health-care costs of patients who reported such conversations and compared them to those of...

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Source: Clinical Oncology Week (2009-03-23)

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