Fig 1.
Trends in the proportion of terminal patients receiving hospice care.
Fig 2.
Flow chart of the sampling and matching process.
CCI = Charlson Comorbidity Index.
Fig 3.
Flow chart of the sample selection process.
CCI = Charlson Comorbidity Index.
Table 1.
Proportions of the different types of hospice care provided to terminal patientsa.
Table 2.
Basic characteristics of terminal patients receiving traditional care or hospice carea.
Table 3.
Differences in medical treatment behaviors between traditional care and hospice care patientsa.
Fig 4.
Total medical expenses for traditional care and hospice care.
After the average values for the traditional group and the hospice group were calculated by the least-squares means in controlling the treatment of each hospital in each year, the differences between the average values of the hospice treatment and the traditional group were the adjusted mean difference (AMDs). Negative AMD values indicate savings on medical expenses. 1 US dollar = 31 Taiwan Dollars; * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.
Fig 5.
Total medical expenses for traditional care and various hospice care.
After the average values for the traditional group and the hospice group were calculated by the least-squares means in controlling the treatment of each hospital in each year, the differences between the average values of the hospice treatment and the traditional group were the adjusted mean difference (AMDs). Negative AMD values indicate savings on medical expenses. 1 US dollar = 31 Taiwan Dollars; * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001. Abbreviation: HSC = Hospice-shared care; IHC = Inpatient hospice care; HHC = Home-based hospice care.
Table 4.
Differences in medical expenses between traditional care and hospice care patientsa.
Table 5.
Differences in medical expenses between traditional care and various hospice care patientsa.
Fig 6.
Trends in medical costs before and after hospice care in the year before death.
The vertical dashed red line represents the day of receiving hospice care (i.e., point zero). The left side of the dashed red line represents the number of days from the beginning of the end of life to the day before accepting hospice care, and the right side of the dashed red line represents the number of days from accepting hospice care to death. The cumulative total cost for the last year was calculated regardless of the length of hospice care exposure time (e.g., terminal patients started receiving hospice care 30 days before death, while the date of death was pushed back 30 days in the traditional group for matching, and the medical cost for the two groups of patients started to accumulate to death from 335 days before receiving hospice care/treatment). 1 US dollar = 31 Taiwan dollars.