Cost-utility of palliative care in an oncology institute

Objective: Evaluate the cost-utility of palliative care in oncology, estimating direct medical costs, quality-adjusted life years, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. Methods: It is an economic evaluation using a Markov model to compare the costs and outcomes of palliative care and conventional care. The study cohort was composed of 97 patients from four Oncology Units: 16 (16.5%) from Cancer Hospital 1, 20 (20.6%) from 2, 18 (18.6%) from 3 and 43 (44.3%) from 4. Hospitals 1, 2 and 3 provide conventional care and Hospital 4 palliative care. Results: Cancer Hospital 4 had the lowest monthly treatment cost at R$ 25,72, compared to Hospital 1 (R$ 128.18), 2 (R$ 267.20) and 3 (R$ 274.30). Sensitivity analysis showed that the results were robust even with variations in parameters. Conclusion: The cost-utility analysis demonstrated that the palliative care unit was the most cost-effective alternative compared to the conventional care units. Implementing policies that encourage the adoption of palliative care from diagnosis is recommended to optimize clinical and economic outcomes.