Extended care unit: a feasible economic solution for longer-term palliative inpatients.

Abstract

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.