Impact of Comorbid Dementia on Patterns of Hospice Use

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Hospice Live Discharge

Hospice care is designed to support the medical and psychosocial needs of individuals with serious illness and their caregivers through the dying process. Some individuals, though, leave hospice prior to death, generally referred to as disenrollment or a "live discharge." Live discharge from hospice is a common and often distressing issue for hospice patients, their caregivers, and also for hospice professionals and agencies. This paper discusses common issues surrounding live discharge that clinicians and other healthcare professionals should consider when dealing with live discharge in their own clinical practices. Where applicable, we provide practical steps for hospice and palliative care clinicians to better support patients and families through this critical care transition. Further, we offer strategic directions interprofessional clinicians can take to affect systemic change to improve live discharge experiences.

Hospice Coding and Data Conventions Contribute to Oversimplify the Presence of Dementia in Hospice

OBJECTIVES

To document how dementia diagnoses appear in hospice claims, and how these different presentations reflect different hospice utilization. The reliance in the hospice literature on primary diagnosis, in addition to the focus on decedents, may underestimate the true presence of dementia in hospice, and little is known about the health care utilization of hospice patients with dementia as a secondary or not present diagnosis.

DESIGN

Secondary data analysis of Medicare claims.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Medicare beneficiaries with 2 or more dementia diagnoses from 2016 to 2018 electing hospice in 2018.

METHODS

Beneficiaries were classified based on the presence and position of dementia on their subset of hospice claims: primary diagnosis, secondary diagnosis, and not present. We then compared the demographics and utilization of the 3 claim-based categories of dementia beneficiaries in hospice in 2018.

RESULTS

Fewer than half of beneficiaries with a dementia diagnosis in all of their Medicare claims have dementia indicated as the primary diagnosis associated with their hospice claims, and 30% of beneficiaries did not have their diagnosed dementia appear at all on their hospice claims. Hospice length of stay and other utilization characteristics varied markedly across the 3 claim-based categories of dementia beneficiaries in hospice in 2018.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Collectively, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) coding and sequencing conventions, coding practices, and research methods related to hospice claim diagnoses may unintentionally underestimate and oversimplify how dementia manifests in hospice utilization.

Exploring Social Support Experiences of Caregivers of Persons Living With Dementia in Hospice Care

As the number of persons living with dementia (PLWD) enrolling in hospice care rises, caregiver support becomes increasingly crucial. While social support can help buffer caregiver stress, many caregivers report feeling isolated and having unmet needs, highlighting the limited research on this population. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to better understand caregivers' social support during the period when the PLWD is enrolled in hospice care. Analyzing qualitative data from 22 caregivers of PLWD using conventional content analysis, we identified the theme "Variations in Social Connections." This theme encompasses two subthemes: "never completely alone," indicating social support from family, friends, and neighbors, and "disappointed sometimes," reflecting instances when some individuals in the caregivers' lives couldn't provide regular support. These findings underscore the need for individualized interventions, as each caregiver experiences social support uniquely. Future research should consider the variations in social support among caregivers of PLWD to inform caregiving practices effectively.

Good Death and Quality of End-of-Life Care in Patients with Coexisting Cancer and Dementia: Perspective of Bereaved Families

Background

Patients with coexisting cancer and dementia often have complex health care needs and face challenges in achieving a good death.

Objectives

To evaluate good death achievement and end-of-life (EOL) care in patients with coexisting cancer and dementia from the perspective of bereaved families.

Design

Cross-sectional nationwide postal survey.

Setting/Subjects

Bereaved families of patients with cancer who died in hospice and palliative care units across Japan.

Measurements

Bereaved families completed an anonymous, self-reported questionnaire. Their perspective on achieving a good death was assessed using the Good Death Inventory (GDI) (total score: 18-126). The Revised Care Evaluation Scale-short version (CES2) was used to assess EOL care (total score: 10-60). We examined the Brief Grief Questionnaire (BGQ) (total score: 0-10) and Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ9) (total score: 0-27).

Results

Data from 670 participants were analyzed, including 83 (12.4%) bereaved families of patients with coexisting cancer and dementia. No statistical differences were observed in the total GDI score for 18 items (dementia comorbidity vs. nondementia comorbidity groups, mean ± standard deviation, respectively, 78.4 ± 17.7 vs. 80.0 ± 15.5, adjusted [adj] P = 0.186), CES2 score (49.70 ± 9.22 vs. 48.82 ± 8.40, adj P = 0.316), BGQ score (3.40 ± 2.41 vs. 4.36 ± 2.28, adj P = 0.060), and PHQ9 score (4.67 ± 4.71 vs. 5.50 ± 5.37, adj P = 0.788).

Conclusions

GDI, CES2, BGQ, and PHQ9 scores did not differ significantly between groups, regardless of the presence of dementia in hospice and palliative care units. Patients with coexisting cancer and dementia can achieve a good death by high-quality EOL care.

Opportunities to Improve End-of-Life Care Quality among Patients with Short Terminal Admissions

CONTEXT

Little is known about Veterans who die during a short terminal admission, which renders them ineligible for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Bereaved Family Survey.

OBJECTIVES

We sought to describe this population and identify opportunities to improve end-of-life (EOL) care quality.

METHODS

Retrospective, cohort analysis of Veteran decedents who died in a VA inpatient setting between October 2018-September 2019. Veterans were dichotomized by short (<24 hours) and long (≥24 hours) terminal admissions; sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, VA and non-VA healthcare use, and EOL care quality indicators were compared.

RESULTS

Among 17,033 inpatient decedents, 723 (4%) had short terminal admissions. Patients with short compared to long terminal admissions were less likely to have a VA hospitalization (38% vs. 54%) in the last 90 days of life and were more likely to die in an intensive care (49% vs 21%) or acute care (27% vs 18%) unit. Patients with a short compared to long admission were about half as likely to receive hospice (33% vs 64%) or palliative care (33% vs 69%). Most patients with short admissions (76%) had a life-limiting condition (e.g., cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and those with cancer were more likely to receive palliative care compared to those with non-cancer conditions.

CONCLUSION

Veterans with short terminal admissions are less likely to receive hospice or palliative care compared to patients with long terminal admissions. Many patients with short terminal admissions, such as those with life-limiting conditions (especially cancer), receive aspects of high-quality EOL care, however, opportunities for improvement exist.

2024 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures

This article describes the public health impact of Alzheimer's disease (AD), including prevalence and incidence, mortality and morbidity, use and costs of care and the ramifications of AD for family caregivers, the dementia workforce and society. The Special Report discusses the larger health care system for older adults with cognitive issues, focusing on the role of caregivers and non-physician health care professionals. An estimated 6.9 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's dementia today. This number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060, barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent or cure AD. Official AD death certificates recorded 119,399 deaths from AD in 2021. In 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 entered the ranks of the top ten causes of death, Alzheimer's was the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. Official counts for more recent years are still being compiled. Alzheimer's remains the fifth-leading cause of death among Americans age 65 and older. Between 2000 and 2021, deaths from stroke, heart disease and HIV decreased, whereas reported deaths from AD increased more than 140%. More than 11 million family members and other unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 18.4 billion hours of care to people with Alzheimer's or other dementias in 2023. These figures reflect a decline in the number of caregivers compared with a decade earlier, as well as an increase in the amount of care provided by each remaining caregiver. Unpaid dementia caregiving was valued at $346.6 billion in 2023. Its costs, however, extend to unpaid caregivers' increased risk for emotional distress and negative mental and physical health outcomes. Members of the paid health care and broader community-based workforce are involved in diagnosing, treating and caring for people with dementia. However, the United States faces growing shortages across different segments of the dementia care workforce due to a combination of factors, including the absolute increase in the number of people living with dementia. Therefore, targeted programs and care delivery models will be needed to attract, better train and effectively deploy health care and community-based workers to provide dementia care. Average per-person Medicare payments for services to beneficiaries age 65 and older with AD or other dementias are almost three times as great as payments for beneficiaries without these conditions, and Medicaid payments are more than 22 times as great. Total payments in 2024 for health care, long-term care and hospice services for people age 65 and older with dementia are estimated to be $360 billion. The Special Report investigates how caregivers of older adults with cognitive issues interact with the health care system and examines the role non-physician health care professionals play in facilitating clinical care and access to community-based services and supports. It includes surveys of caregivers and health care workers, focusing on their experiences, challenges, awareness and perceptions of dementia care navigation.

Health Care Costs Associated With Hospice Use For People With Dementia In The US

Policy makers in the US are increasingly concerned that greater use of the Medicare hospice benefit by people with dementia is driving up costs. Yet this perspective fails to incorporate potential cost savings associated with hospice. We estimated the association between hospice use by people with dementia and health care costs, using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data from the period 2002-19. For community-dwelling people with dementia, Medicare costs were lower for those who used hospice than for those who did not, whether hospice enrollment was in the last three days ($2,200) or last three months ($7,200) of life, primarily through lower inpatient care costs in the last days of life. In nursing homes, total and Medicare costs were lower for hospice users with dementia who enrolled within a month of death than for those who did not use hospice. Total costs for the entire last year of life for those who used any days of hospice in the last year compared with no hospice did not differ, although Medicare costs were higher and Medicaid costs lower for those in nursing homes. Medicare policies that reduce hospice access and incentivize hospice disenrollment may actually increase Medicare costs, given that hospice cost savings generally derive from a person's last days or weeks of life.

Hospice Quality, Race, and Disenrollment in Hospice Enrollees With Dementia

Background: Racial and ethnic minoritized people with dementia (PWD) are at high risk of disenrollment from hospice, yet little is known about the relationship between hospice quality and racial disparities in disenrollment among PWD. Objective: To assess the association between race and disenrollment between and within hospice quality categories in PWD. Design/Setting/Subjects: Retrospective cohort study of 100% Medicare beneficiaries 65+ enrolled in hospice with a principal diagnosis of dementia, July 2012-December 2017. Race and ethnicity (White/Black/Hispanic/Asian and Pacific Islander [AAPI]) was assessed with the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) algorithm. Hospice quality was assessed with the publicly-available Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey item on overall hospice rating, including a category for hospices exempt from public reporting (unrated). Results: The sample included 673,102 PWD (mean age 86, 66% female, 85% White, 7.3% Black, 6.3% Hispanic, 1.6% AAPI) enrolled in 4371 hospices nationwide. Likelihood of disenrollment was higher in hospices in the lowest quartile of quality ratings (vs. highest quartile) for both White (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.12 [95% confidence interval 1.06-1.19]) and minoritized PWD (AOR range 1.2-1.3) and was substantially higher in unrated hospices (AOR range 1.8-2.0). Within both low- and high-quality hospices, minoritized PWD were more likely to be disenrolled compared with White PWD (AOR range 1.18-1.45). Conclusions: Hospice quality predicts disenrollment, but does not fully explain disparities in disenrollment for minoritized PWD. Efforts to improve racial equity in hospice should focus both on increasing equity in access to high-quality hospices and improving care for racial minoritized PWD in all hospices.

2023 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures

This article describes the public health impact of Alzheimer's disease, including prevalence and incidence, mortality and morbidity, use and costs of care, and the overall impact on family caregivers, the dementia workforce and society. The Special Report examines the patient journey from awareness of cognitive changes to potential treatment with drugs that change the underlying biology of Alzheimer's. An estimated 6.7 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's dementia today. This number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060 barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent, slow or cure AD. Official death certificates recorded 121,499 deaths from AD in 2019, and Alzheimer's disease was officially listed as the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. In 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 entered the ranks of the top ten causes of death, Alzheimer's was the seventh-leading cause of death. Alzheimer's remains the fifth-leading cause of death among Americans age 65 and older. Between 2000 and 2019, deaths from stroke, heart disease and HIV decreased, whereas reported deaths from AD increased more than 145%. This trajectory of deaths from AD was likely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. More than 11 million family members and other unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 18 billion hours of care to people with Alzheimer's or other dementias in 2022. These figures reflect a decline in the number of caregivers compared with a decade earlier, as well as an increase in the amount of care provided by each remaining caregiver. Unpaid dementia caregiving was valued at $339.5 billion in 2022. Its costs, however, extend to family caregivers' increased risk for emotional distress and negative mental and physical health outcomes - costs that have been aggravated by COVID-19. Members of the paid health care workforce are involved in diagnosing, treating and caring for people with dementia. In recent years, however, a shortage of such workers has developed in the United States. This shortage - brought about, in part, by COVID-19 - has occurred at a time when more members of the dementia care workforce are needed. Therefore, programs will be needed to attract workers and better train health care teams. Average per-person Medicare payments for services to beneficiaries age 65 and older with AD or other dementias are almost three times as great as payments for beneficiaries without these conditions, and Medicaid payments are more than 22 times as great. Total payments in 2023 for health care, long-term care and hospice services for people age 65 and older with dementia are estimated to be $345 billion. The Special Report examines whether there will be sufficient numbers of physician specialists to provide Alzheimer's care and treatment now that two drugs are available that change the underlying biology of Alzheimer's disease.

Functional and clinical needs of older hospice enrollees with coexisting dementia

BACKGROUND

The Medicare Hospice Benefit increasingly serves people dying with dementia. We sought to understand characteristics, hospice use patterns, and last-month-of-life care quality ratings among hospice enrollees with dementia coexisting with another terminal illness as compared to enrollees with a principal hospice diagnosis of dementia, and enrollees with no dementia.

METHODS

We conducted a pooled cross-sectional study among decedent Medicare beneficiaries age 70+ using longitudinal data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) (last interview before death; after-death proxy interview) linked to Medicare hospice claims (2011-2017). We used unadjusted and adjusted regression analyses to compare characteristics of hospice enrollees with coexisting dementia to two groups: (1) enrollees with a principal dementia diagnosis, and (2) enrollees with no dementia.

RESULTS

Among 1105 decedent hospice enrollees age 70+, 40% had coexisting dementia, 16% had a principal diagnosis of dementia, and 44% had no dementia. In adjusted analyses, enrollees with coexisting dementia had high rates of needing help with 3-6 activities of daily living, similar to enrollees with principal dementia (62% vs. 67%). Enrollees with coexisting dementia had high clinical needs, similar to those with no dementia, for example, 63% versus 61% had bothersome pain. Care quality was worse for enrollees with coexisting dementia versus principal dementia (e.g., 61% vs. 79% had anxiety/sadness managed) and similar to those with no dementia. Enrollees with coexisting dementia had similar hospice use patterns as those with principal diagnoses and higher rates of problematic use patterns compared to those with no dementia (e.g., 16% vs. 10% live disenrollment, p = 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS

People with coexisting dementia have functional needs comparable to enrollees with principal diagnoses of dementia, and clinical needs comparable to enrollees with no dementia. Changes to hospice care models and policy may be needed to ensure appropriate dementia care.

A national study of disenrollment from hospice among people with dementia

BACKGROUND

People with dementia (PWD) are at high risk for hospice disenrollment, yet little is known about patterns of disenrollment among the growing number of hospice enrollees with dementia.

DESIGN

Retrospective, observational cohort study of 100% Medicare beneficiaries with dementia aged 65 and older enrolled in the Medicare Hospice Benefit between July 2012 and December 2017. Outcome measures included hospice-initiated disenrollment for patients whose rate of decline ceased to meet the Medicare hospice eligibility guideline of "expected death within 6 months" (extended prognosis) and patient-initiated disenrollment (revocation). Hospice, regional, and patient risk factors and variation were assessed with multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Among 867,695 hospice enrollees with dementia, 70,945 (8.2%) were disenrolled due to extended prognosis and 43,133 (5.0%) revoked within 1-year of their index admission. There was substantial variation in hospice provider disenrollment due to extended prognosis (10th-90th percentile 4.5%-14.6%, adjusted median odds ratio (MOR) 1.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.82, 1.91) and revocation (10th-90th percentile 2.5%-10.1%, MOR 2.09, 95% CI 2.03, 2.14). Among hospital referral regions (HRR), there was more variation in revocation (10th-90th percentile 3.5%-7.6%, MOR 1.4, 95% CI 1.34, 1.47) than extended prognosis (10th-90th percentile 7.0%-9.5%, MOR 1.23, 95% CI 1.18, 1.27), with much higher revocation rates noted in HRRs located in the Southeast and Southern California. A number of patient and hospice characteristics were associated with higher odds of both types of disenrollment (younger age, female sex, minoritized race and ethnicity, Medicaid dual eligibility, Medicare Part C enrollment), while some were associated with revocation only (more comorbidities, newer, smaller, and for-profit hospices).

CONCLUSIONS

In this nationally representative study of hospice enrollees with dementia, hospice disenrollment varied by type of hospice, geographic region, and patient characteristics including age, sex, race, and ethnicity. These findings raise important questions about whether and how the Medicare Hospice Benefit could be adapted to reduce disparities and better support PWD.

A Description of Persons With Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias Receiving Home Health Care: A National Analysis

The end-of-life period of individuals with Alzheimer disease and related dementias receiving home health care (HHC) is understudied. We sought to describe characteristics of HHC patients with Alzheimer disease and related dementias at risk of death within a year, based on clinician assessment. We conducted a secondary data analysis of a 5% random sample of the Outcome and Assessment Information Set data set for the year 2017. We used Outcome and Assessment Information Set-C item M1034 to identify HHC patients with overall status of progressive condition leading to death within a year. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to examine the association between sociodemographic, functional, clinical, and caregiving factors and likelihood of decline leading to death within a year, as identified by HHC clinicians. Clinician perception of decline leading to death within a year was higher for Whites (vs Blacks or Hispanics) (odds ratio [OR], 0.74 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.69-0.80], and OR, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.57-0.69], respectively). Factors associated with increased odds of decline leading to death within a year included daily pain (OR, 1.11 [95% CI, 1.06-1.17]), anxiety daily or more often (OR, 1.58 [95% CI, 1.49-1.67]), shortness of breath (OR, 1.45 [95% CI, 1.34-1.57]), use of oxygen (OR, 1.60 [95% CI, 1.52-1.69]), disruptive behavior (OR, 1.26 [95% CI, 1.20-1.31]), and feeding difficulty (OR, 2.25 [95% CI, 2.09-2.43]). High symptom burden exists among HHC patients with Alzheimer disease and related dementias identified to have a status of decline leading to death within a year.

Emergency and post-emergency care of older adults with Alzheimer's disease/Alzheimer's disease related dementias

BACKGROUND

The emergency department (ED) is a critical juncture in the care of persons living with dementia (PLwD), as they have a high rate of hospital admission, ED revisits, and subsequent inpatient stays. We examine ED disposition of PLwD compared with older adults with non-dementia chronic disease as well as healthcare utilization and survival.

METHODS

Medicare claims data were used to identify community-dwelling older adults 66+ years old from 34 hospitals with either Alzheimer's disease/Alzheimer's disease related dementias (AD/ADRD) or a non-AD/ADRD chronic condition between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2018. We compared ED disposition at the index visit, as well as healthcare utilization and mortality in the 12 months following an index ED visit, and adjusted for age, gender, and risk of mortality.

RESULTS

There were 29,626 patients in the AD/ADRD sample, and 317,046 in the comparison sample. The AD/ADRD sample was older (82.4 years old [SD: 8.2] vs. 76.0 years old [SD: 7.7]) and had more female patients (59.9% vs. 54.7%). The AD/ADRD sample was more likely to experience ED disposition to acute care (OR 1.039, p < 0.001, 95% CI 1.029-1.050), to have an ED revisit (OR 1.077, p < 0.001, 95% CI 1.066-1.087), and an inpatient stay in the subsequent 12 months (OR 1.085, p < 0.001, 95% CI 1.075-1.095). ED disposition to hospice was low in both samples (0.2%). AD/ADRD patients had a higher risk of mortality (OR 1.099, p < 0.001, 95% CI 1.091-1.107) and high short-term mortality (31.9% within 12 months) than those without AD/ADRD (15.3% within 12 months).

CONCLUSIONS

PLwD who visit the ED have high short-term mortality. Despite this, disposition to acute care, ED revisits, and inpatient stays, rather than hospice, remain the predominant mode of care delivery. Transition directly from the ED to hospice for PLwD is rare.

Predicting Hospice Transitions in Dementia Caregiving Dyads: An Exploratory Machine Learning Approach

Background and Objectives

Hospice programs assist people with serious illness and their caregivers with aging in place, avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations, and remaining at home through the end-of-life. While evidence is emerging of the myriad of factors influencing end-of-life care transitions among persons living with dementia, current research is primarily cross- sectional and does not account for the effect that changes over time have on hospice care uptake, access, and equity within dyads.

Research Design and Methods

Secondary data analysis linking the National Health and Aging Trends Study to the National Study of Caregiving investigating important social determinants of health and quality-of-life factors of persons living with dementia and their primary caregivers (n = 117) on hospice utilization over 3 years (2015-2018). We employ cutting-edge machine learning approaches (correlation matrix analysis, principal component analysis, random forest [RF], and information gain ratio [IGR]).

Results

IGR indicators of hospice use include persons living with dementia having diabetes, a regular physician, a good memory rating, not relying on food stamps, not having chewing or swallowing problems, and whether health prevents them from enjoying life (accuracy = 0.685; sensitivity = 0.824; specificity = 0.537; area under the curve (AUC) = 0.743). RF indicates primary caregivers' age, and the person living with dementia's income, census division, number of days help provided by caregiver per month, and whether health prevents them from enjoying life predicts hospice use (accuracy = 0.624; sensitivity = 0.713; specificity = 0.557; AUC = 0.703).

Discussion and Implications

Our exploratory models create a starting point for the future development of precision health approaches that may be integrated into learning health systems that prompt providers with actionable information about who may benefit from discussions around serious illness goals-for-care. Future work is necessary to investigate those not considered in this study-that is, persons living with dementia who do not use hospice care so additional insights can be gathered around barriers to care.

Hospice Improves Care Quality For Older Adults With Dementia In Their Last Month Of Life

The Medicare hospice benefit was originally designed around a cancer disease paradigm but increasingly serves people living with dementia. At this time, almost half of all older adults receiving hospice care have dementia. Yet there is minimal evidence as to whether hospice benefits people living with dementia outside of nursing facilities. We asked whether and how the perceived quality of last-month-of-life care differed between people with and without dementia and whether hospice use among people living with dementia was associated with perceived quality of care compared with the quality of care for those who did not use hospice. We used nationally representative data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study and Medicare claims from the period 2011-17 to examine the impact of hospice enrollment on proxy perceptions of last-month-of-life care quality. Proxies of people living with dementia enrolled in hospice compared with proxies of those not enrolled more often reported care to be excellent (predicted probability: 52 percent versus 41 percent), more often reported having anxiety or sadness managed (67 percent versus 46 percent), and less often reported changes in care settings in the last three days of life (10 percent versus 25 percent). There were no differences in the impact of hospice on proxy ratings of care for people with and without dementia. Policy makers should consider these benefits when weighing changes to hospice policy and regulations that may affect people living with dementia.

State Regulations and Hospice Utilization in Assisted Living during the Last Month of Life

OBJECTIVES

To examine the association between hospice/staffing regulations in residential care or assisted living (RC/AL) and hospice utilization among a national cohort of Medicare decedents residing in RC/AL at least 1 day during the last month of life, and to describe patterns of hospice utilization.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study of fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries who died in 2018 and resided in an RC/AL community with ≥25 beds at least 1 day during the last month of life.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

23,285 decedents who spent time in 6274 RC/AL communities with 146 state license classifications.

METHODS

Descriptive statistics about hospice use; logistic regression models to test the association between regulations supportive of hospice care or registered nurse (RN) staffing requirements and the odds of hospice use in RC/AL in the last month of life.

RESULTS

More than half (56.4%) of the study cohort received hospice care in RC/AL at some point during the last 30 days of life, including 5.7% who received more intensive continuous home care (CHC). A larger proportion of decedents who resided in RC/ALs with supportive hospice policies received hospice (57.3% vs 52.6%), with this difference driven by more CHC hospice programs. This association remained significant after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, time spent in RC/AL, and Hospital Referral Region fixed effects. Decedents in RC/ALs with explicit RN staffing requirements had significantly less CHC use (2.0% vs 6.8%).

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

A large proportion of RC/AL decedents received hospice care in RC/AL regardless of differing regulations. Those in licensed settings with explicitly supportive hospice regulations were significantly more likely to receive hospice care in RC/AL during the last month of life, especially CHC level of hospice care. Regulatory change in states that do not yet explicitly allow hospice care in RC/AL may potentially increase hospice utilization in this setting, although the implications for quality of care remain unclear.