Medicare Plan Switching and Hospice Care Among Decedents With Advanced Cancer

What are the hospice utilization implications for Medicare decedents with advanced cancers continuously enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA), traditional Medicare (TM) or who switch plans in the last year of life?In this cohort study among 196 536 beneficiaries who died in 2010-2020, continuous MA enrollees had 6.93 percentage points higher probability of hospice use and 5.13 days longer stay than those with continuous TM. Continuous MA enrollees more often received hospice care at home, while those who switched from MA to TM more often received hospice care in nursing homes.Results of this study suggest greater hospice use among MA decedents, which may improve end-of-life care; those who switched from MA to TM may represent a subgroup with greater nursing home needs and access barriers under MA.

Corresponding Author: Xin Hu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1365 Clifton Rd, Ste A1320, Atlanta, GA 30322 (xin.hu@emory.edu).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.