(openPR) In their final year of life, on average men cause more healthcare costs than women. Dying is more expensive in the French- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland than in the German-speaking part. These are the findings of an analysis of health insurance data that was conducted as part of the National Research Programme "End of life" (NRP 67).
---
184,791 people died in Switzerland between 2008 and 2010. Of these, 113,277 (or 61.3 per cent) adults were insured with one of six major health insurers who provided their – anonymised – data to the researchers at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern. The scientists used this data to investigate the regional distribution of healthcare costs in the year before death as part of the National Research Programme "End of life" (NRP 67).
Almost ten times the usual costs
Their recently published analysis (*) showed that the healthcare costs reimbursed by the health insurance rise sharply to an average of over 30,000 francs per individual in the last year of life. They account for many times the normal healthcare costs, which are estimated to be between 3,500 and 6,700 francs a year depending on the person’s age.
The cost drivers are individual factors, such as the cause of death, age and gender. Thus, the last 12 months for cancer patients (especially in cases of breast, lung and prostate cancer) involve the highest costs reimbursed by the health insurers. On the other hand, the insurance companies have to pay less at the end of life in cases of accidental death or heart failure.
Dying women cost less
Compared with men, women die later and accumulate less costs. The data cannot establish whether these reduced costs are associated with the fact that most women are widowed when they die. , and the healthcare system may not fight for their lives as much as they may have fought for the lives of their husbands in previous years. "Our results only indicate differences. We can only speculate as to how these differences arise," says Radoslaw Panczak, the lead author of the study.
Panczak and his colleagues have corrected for individual factors in their statistical models – but substantial differences still remain in the regional distribution of healthcare costs at the end of life: Individuals living in regions of French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland have, on average, around 20 per cent more cost in the year before death than in German-speaking Switzerland.
Dying at home thanks to Spitex
As one possible reason for these differences, the researchers point to a survey conducted by Swiss doctors which showed that French-speaking specialists tend to treat pain rather more aggressively. On average, they were less willing than their German-speaking counterparts to refrain from therapeutic measures at the request of the relatives.
Another reason mentioned by the researchers for the cost differences is the fact that more people die in hospital (and fewer at home or in retirement or nursing homes) in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland than in German-speaking Switzerland. Panczak states that the probability of dying in hospital rather than in a nursing home is lower in places where there are more doctors who provide treatment on an outpatient basis and more nursing homes. This is clearly apparent, for example, when comparing the regions of Yverdon and Neuchâtel. Neuchâtel began developing community-based Spitex structures at an early stage. This may explain why the average costs at the end of life are only half as much as those in the immediately adjacent region of Yverdon.
(*) R. Panczak et al. Regional Variation of Cost of Care in the Last 12 Months of Life in Switzerland: Small-Area Analysis Using Insurance Claims Data. Med Care 2017; 55:155-63.
X. Luta et al. Dying among older adults in Switzerland: who dies in hospital, who dies in a nursing home? BMC Palliative Care, 15, 83.
Contact
Radoslaw Panczak (English)
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine
Finkenhubelweg 11
CH-3012 Bern
E-mail:
Phone: +41 31 631 35 57
Marcel Zwahlen (German)
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine
Finkenhubelweg 11
CH-3012 Bern
E-mail:
Phone: +41 31 631 35 54
* * * * *
National Research Programme "End of life"
The Swiss National Science Foundation has been mandated by the Federal Council to conduct the National Research Programme "End of life" (NRP 67). NRP 67 aims to use scientific results to contribute to a better understanding of changes and newly emerging needs in the context of death and dying. The recommendations of NRP 67 will be published in a final report in November 2017.
Weitere Informationen:
- http://www.nrp67.ch
- http://www.snf.ch/en/researchinFocus/newsroom/Pages/news-170803-press-release-nrp-67-cultural-factors-account-for-cost-differences-at-the-end-of-life.aspx
Quelle: idw
