Specialty palliative care for metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) started an average 5 and a half weeks earlier in 2015 compared with 2001, according to a study of Medicare beneficiaries published online in JCO Oncology Practice (2020. doi:10.1200/OP.20.00298).
“Patients diagnosed with metastatic NSCLC now have more timely specialty palliative care service utilization, which was demonstrated to be a cost-saving treatment,” researchers wrote.
The study was based on SEER-Medicare data for 79,253 patients diagnosed with metastatic NSCLC between 2001 and 2015.
In 2001, the time from NSCLC diagnosis to first use of specialty palliative care was 13.7 weeks, according to the study. By 2015, the time span shrank to 8.3 weeks. Researchers noted that the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends early use of palliative care for patients with NSCLC.
The study also found that specialty palliative care was linked with lower healthcare costs. Compared with patients who did not receive specialty palliative care, those who did had cost savings of $3180 in 2011 and $1285 in 2015.
Among patients who received specialty palliative care, those who received it in outpatient settings had improved survival compared with other settings.
“Strategies to improve outpatient palliative care use might be associated with longer survival in patients with metastatic NSCLC,” researchers advised.—Jolynn Tumolo
