Wednesday, March 14, 2007
1:30 - 2:30 PM Eastern

FEATURED SPEAKERS
Kathleen Kerr
Senior Analyst, University of California, San Francisco
Faculty, UCSF Palliative Care Leadership Center

Steven Pantilat, MD
Associate Professor
University of California, San Francisco

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
The purpose of a hospital palliative care program is to provide the highest quality care to patients with serious, complex illness. While the goal is to assure the best care, it is often the case that there is also a secondary effect of reducing hospital costs.

Shorter hospital and intensive care unit stays, lower daily inpatient care costs, and increased use of hospice and non-acute care resources are all means by which palliative care programs help hospitals reduce costs. In addition, the payer mix and resource utilization patterns of patients who would benefit from palliative care are such that "cost avoidance" creates a compelling rationale for funding a hospital palliative care program.

Click here to download the Power Point presentation.