Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort study

Objective To investigate associations between the availability and timing of digitally available advance care planning (ACP) documents and hospital use and costs during the last 6 months of life.Design Retrospective population-based cohort study using data linkage.Setting 11 public hospitals in Quee...

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Main Authors: Ian Scott, Liz Reymond, Xanthe Sansome, Hannah Carter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2024-11-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/11/e082766.full
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author Ian Scott
Liz Reymond
Xanthe Sansome
Hannah Carter
author_facet Ian Scott
Liz Reymond
Xanthe Sansome
Hannah Carter
author_sort Ian Scott
collection DOAJ
description Objective To investigate associations between the availability and timing of digitally available advance care planning (ACP) documents and hospital use and costs during the last 6 months of life.Design Retrospective population-based cohort study using data linkage.Setting 11 public hospitals in Queensland, Australia.Participants 5586 decedents with ACP documents were directly matched 1:2 to 11 172 control decedents based on age category, sex, location, year of death and principal diagnosis code for the last-known hospital admission.Exposure ACP discussions with documents uploaded to a widely accessible statewide digital platform. Directly matched subgroup analyses investigated differences between decedents with ACP documents available at three different times prior to death: ≥6 months, between 1 and 6 months, and <1 month.Main outcomes and measures Emergency department (ED) presentations, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and in-hospital deaths, expressed as adjusted OR (aOR). Secondary outcomes were hospital bed-days and costs.Results ACP decedents with documents uploaded ≥6 months prior to death, compared with controls, had fewer ED presentations (aOR 0.90, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.00), hospitalisations (aOR 0.83, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.92), ICU admissions (aOR 0.23, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.48), and in-hospital deaths (aOR 0.56, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.63), and lower adjusted mean hospital costs per person over the last 6 months of life ($A2290 less (95% CI −$4116 to −$463)). Conversely, decedents with ACP documents uploaded less than 6 months prior to death showed higher rates of ED presentations and hospital admissions and greater hospital costs relative to controls.Conclusion The association between digitally available ACP documents and health service use and cost differed based on the timing of ACP upload, with documents available ≥6 months prior to death being associated with less hospital use and costs.
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spelling doaj-art-ca6ad4aa95464de5aecd0c500c4a038c2024-11-11T06:30:07ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552024-11-01141110.1136/bmjopen-2023-082766Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort studyIan Scott0Liz Reymond1Xanthe Sansome2Hannah Carter31 School of Clinical Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia3 Statewide Office of Advance Care Planning, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia5 Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia6 Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation, Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Health, Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaObjective To investigate associations between the availability and timing of digitally available advance care planning (ACP) documents and hospital use and costs during the last 6 months of life.Design Retrospective population-based cohort study using data linkage.Setting 11 public hospitals in Queensland, Australia.Participants 5586 decedents with ACP documents were directly matched 1:2 to 11 172 control decedents based on age category, sex, location, year of death and principal diagnosis code for the last-known hospital admission.Exposure ACP discussions with documents uploaded to a widely accessible statewide digital platform. Directly matched subgroup analyses investigated differences between decedents with ACP documents available at three different times prior to death: ≥6 months, between 1 and 6 months, and <1 month.Main outcomes and measures Emergency department (ED) presentations, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and in-hospital deaths, expressed as adjusted OR (aOR). Secondary outcomes were hospital bed-days and costs.Results ACP decedents with documents uploaded ≥6 months prior to death, compared with controls, had fewer ED presentations (aOR 0.90, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.00), hospitalisations (aOR 0.83, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.92), ICU admissions (aOR 0.23, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.48), and in-hospital deaths (aOR 0.56, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.63), and lower adjusted mean hospital costs per person over the last 6 months of life ($A2290 less (95% CI −$4116 to −$463)). Conversely, decedents with ACP documents uploaded less than 6 months prior to death showed higher rates of ED presentations and hospital admissions and greater hospital costs relative to controls.Conclusion The association between digitally available ACP documents and health service use and cost differed based on the timing of ACP upload, with documents available ≥6 months prior to death being associated with less hospital use and costs.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/11/e082766.full
spellingShingle Ian Scott
Liz Reymond
Xanthe Sansome
Hannah Carter
Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort study
BMJ Open
title Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort study
title_full Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort study
title_fullStr Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort study
title_short Association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life: a population-based retrospective cohort study
title_sort association of advance care planning with hospital use and costs at the end of life a population based retrospective cohort study
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/11/e082766.full
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