Abstract

• The cost of hospice care should be covered by the insurance system if it is to be promoted in our country and this, in turn, requires a proper method to the estimate of this cost. The purpose of this study was to set up the method to estimate the cost of hospice care. First the cost effectiveness of hospice care were studied. By tracing the activities of hospice nurses for a given period, all the relevant data such as the scope and load of activities as well as the cost were collected. Then these were analysed and compared with the data obtained from hospice and home care. The results showed that the cost of hospice care was the most economic, and indicate its qualification as an independent system. The main part of the cost of hospice care was found to be the labor cost which was up to 83% of the total. Therefore a method to estimate the cost should reflect the real labor cost. Several methods have been proposed in the study in terms of unit labor cost, service time, material cost, and the weight of the labor cost. All variables, including the service time surveyed in this study, can easily be translated into numerical values and it would not difficult to estmate the cost of hospice care. Hence by letting the hospic care be insured, hospice care can be expected to function as a good alternative to the present medical system.

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