Home and hospital cost of terminal illness.

A study was undertaken of the billed charges of the last 2 weeks of life of patients terminally ill with malignant disease. A sample was drawn of those who died at home and matched to those who died in a hospital. The cost was 10.5 times greater for the last 2 weeks of life for terminal care in a hospital than at home, due to the greater range and larger quantity of diagnostic and therapeutic services provided to hospitalized patients than to those who died at home.