Palliative patients who cannot go home are placed into nursing homes. This involves moving between up to five locations in the final weeks of life. We censored all inpatients on a single day from a large tertiary centre to investigate the feasibility of a proposed extended care unit to accommodate patients with a prognosis of less than 90 days, unable to return home, and with nursing home referral process commenced. This study identifies a present demand for an extended care unit (15 patients identified), outlines admission criteria, and proposes a funding model that is predicted to save hospital costs (savings of $207.70 per patient per bed day). This patient-focused approach is a feasible economic solution to the current unmet needs of this patient demographic.
Keywords: cost saving; hospice; hospital cost; length of stay; palliative care.
© 2018 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.