The role of economics in the evaluation of hospice care.

The hospice movement has developed rapidly in the past decade and the range of services offered to the terminally ill has proliferated accordingly. There has, however, been little systematic evaluation of either the costs and effectiveness of hospice care as opposed to traditional services for the terminally ill; or the relative costs and outcomes of the alternative modes of provision available within the hospice sector. This paper examines the role of economic evaluation of the costs and effectiveness of hospice services in order to obtain maximum patient benefit from the limited resources available for terminal care. The potential policy implications of such research are outlined.