Earlier hospice care can have a positive effect on the lives of cancer patients and their family caregivers, according to preliminary findings from a three-year study conducted by Hospice of Michigan and the University of Michigan. Dr. John Finn, HOM's corporate medical director, presented findings from the study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, May 18-20, 2002 in Orlando.

Among the preliminary findings:

• Improvement in the patient's quality of life
• Reduction in family caregiver burden
• Cost reduction of approximately 27 percent in the group receiving hospice care, representing an estimated Medicare cost savings of between $4,300 and $7,500 per patient.

Dr. Finn said that the preliminary results from the study may assist in developing demonstration projects or lead to new standards of care and Medicare reimbursement for cancer patients.

The Palliative Care Program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looked at 169 patients with advanced cancers of the lung, breast, prostate, pancreas and colon. As a Phase III research trial, patients were randomly placed into either a treatment group, receiving early hospice care, or a control group, receiving traditional oncology services.

The aim of the Palliative Care Program is to determine the benefits of enrolling patients in supportive hospice care while they are still receiving palliative chemotherapy so that they don't have to choose to stop their treatment in order to have hospice support. Patients in the study were cared for at, University of Michigan Health System, St. John Health System and Providence Hospital and several doctors' clinics.

Dr. Ken Pienta from University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center is principal investigator for the study. Dr. Finn is the co-investigator. This project ended September 30, 2002. Final results are pending.