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Increasing hospice utilization in the Pensacola area: Potential Medicare savings
UWF Student Scholar Symposium and Faculty Research Showcase, Pensacola, FL, April 2015
2015
Abstract
Research shows that older adults receive higher quality care under Hospice care compared to hospitalization or nursing home care and this care is also considerably less expensive. For example, the costs for hospital care, nursing home care, and Hospice care per day are $6,200, $620, and $153 respectively. Despite the benefits in quality and cost, Hospice utilization rates at the end of life continue to be problematic. In addition, of those who use Hospice, 35% are enrolled for less than a week despite eligibility of up to 6 months.
Using 2010 Medicare data obtained from The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care we found that the Hospice utilization rate for the Pensacola area during the last 6 months of life was 57% and that these patients were enrolled for an average of 27 days. The average Medicare expenditure in the 6 months prior to death was $32,330.
Based on this information, we formulated the following research question: How much cost savings would there be if the Pensacola area increased the Hospice utilization rate by 5% and 10% respectively? If the utilization rate was increased by 5%, Medicare expenditures would decrease by $1,616 per person . If the utilization rate was increased by 10%, Medicare expenditures would decrease by $3,233 per person.
These findings suggest that even modest increases in the Hospice utilization rate would lead to significant cost savings for the Medicare program. In addition, these patients would receive higher quality care and most would be cared for in their home.
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Details
- Title
- Increasing hospice utilization in the Pensacola area
- Publication Details
- UWF Student Scholar Symposium and Faculty Research Showcase, Pensacola, FL, April 2015
- Resource Type
- Presentation
- Copyright
- Permission granted to the University of West Florida Libraries to digitize and/or display this information for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires the permission of the copyright holder.
- Identifiers
- 99380090651206600
- Academic Unit
- Usha Kundu, MD College of Health; Former Faculty
- Language
- English