European journal of cancer care
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Eur J Cancer Care (Engl) · May 2020
Observational StudyThe association between palliative care team consultation and hospital costs for patients with advanced cancer: An observational study in 12 Dutch hospitals.
Early palliative care team consultation has been shown to reduce costs of hospital care. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between palliative care team (PCT) consultation and the content and costs of hospital care in patients with advanced cancer. ⋯ PCT consultation for patients with cancer in Dutch hospitals often occurs late in the patients' disease trajectories, which might explain why we found no effect of PCT consultation on costs of hospital care. Earlier consultation could be beneficial to patients and reduce costs of care.