The Cost of Home Care for Dying Children

A comparison of costs for comfort care for the final days of life of children dying of cancer at home or in a hospital is made. Depending on the comparison groups used, the costs for hospital care are about 22 per cent to 207 per cent more than for home care. Variation in comparisons depends on whether the home care is purely an alternative to inpatient hospitalization or representative of a larger concept of care that includes added services at times when the child would not necessarily be hospitalized.