For more than a decade, health policy analysts have noted --and some have decried -- the high cost of dying1,2,3,4,5,6,7.With the acceleration of pressures on health care costs andcalls for reform, considerably more attention has been focusedon proposals to control costs at the end of life8. One proposalwould require persons enrolling in a health care plan to completean advance directive9,10. Others would require hospitals toestablish guidelines to identify and reduce futile care11,12,13.Similar ideas have been expressed by members of President BillClinton's Health Care Task Force and by . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Cost at the End of Life and Reasons for Cost Control
Advance Directives for Health Care and Cost Savings
Hospice Care and Cost Savings
Futile Care and Cost Savings
Can We Save Any Money on Care at the End of Life?
Why Is There Not Much Money to Be Saved at the End of Life?
Conclusions
Source Information
From the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Control, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (E.J.E.), and the Division of Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School (E.J.E., L.L.E.), both in Boston.
Address reprint requests to Dr. E. Emanuel at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Control, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney St., Boston, MA 02115.
References
Related Letters:
Cost Savings at the End of Life
Mahoney J. J., Singer P. A., Lowy F. H., Hilberman M., Mitchell A., Stroud C. E., Carroll W. D., Emanuel E. J., Emanuel L. L.
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N Engl J Med 1994;
331:477-479, Aug 18, 1994.
Correspondence
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