Updated January 13, 2005
Researchers at the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center, in conjunction with Hospice of Michigan, four large medical centers and physicians' practices are studying the benefit of introducing hospice care to people earlier in the course of a progressive, incurable illness. Via a randomized clinical trial, the new Palliative Care Program, Ann Arbor, MI, is demonstrating that patients receiving treatment to fight their illnesses can enjoy a better quality of life if they receive hospice care before the final weeks of life. Patients typically receive no hospice care until all life-prolonging options had been exhausted, often within just two weeks of death.
Dr. Kenneth J. Pienta, who directs the project, believes the new system is allowing patients and their families to more easily prepare for the end of life, and is cost-effective at the same time. "Within this new system the patient and family can appropriately begin the process of transition and we can provide an opportunity for patients and families to grow through the end of life," Pienta said. This new University of Michigan program integrates hospice into the plan of care for patients with advanced breast, prostate or lung cancer or advanced congestive heart failure while life-prolonging treatment continues. It provides regional and national health care planners with valuable data concerning the costs of merging curative or life-prolonging medical care with hospice and palliative, or comprehensive comfort and supportive care.
The University of Michigan Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Center.
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Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care is a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dedicated to long-term changes in health care institutions to substantially improve care for dying people and their families. Visit PromotingExcellence.org for more resources.
