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End-of-life care accounts for 10% of health budget


April 14, 2015

A new study led by Dr. Peter Tanuseputro, a research fellow in Dr. Doug Manuel’s group, shows that Ontario spends $4.7 billion annually (approximately 10% of the health-care budget) on care in the last year of life. Inpatient hospital stays, which rise sharply in the last few months of life, are the biggest driver of costs, accounting for 43% of all funds spent on health care in the last year of life. This uniquely detailed analysis of 265,000 deaths was conducted through powerful ICES databases, which anonymously link many types of medical records for all Ontarians. The results support the desire of patients and health administrators to have better options for health care at home during the end of life. This study was published in PLOS ONE and was featured on the front page of the National Post, as well as in other newspapers such as the Winnipeg Free Press, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette.

Co-authors(s): Walter P. Wodchis, Rob Fowler, Peter Walker, Yu Qing Bai, Sue E. Bronskill, Douglas Manuel

Funder(s): Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation

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