Medicare patients who died in 2015 were more likely to die in their home and less likely to die in a hospital than those who died in 2000, a study published in JAMA found.
The researchers analyzed records from more than 1.3 million Medicare fee-for-service enrollees and more than 870,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees who died between 2000 and 2015. On average, patients in the study died at age 82.
Four study findings:
1. Nearly 20 percent of Medicare-insured patients who died in 2015 did so in an acute care hospital, down from about 32 percent who did so in 2000. About 40 percent of these patients died in a home, hospice, assisted living facility or other community setting in 2015 — an increase from about 31 percent in 2000.
2. The number of patients in the study admitted to the intensive care unit during their last month of life increased from about 24 percent in 2000 and then stabilized between 2009 and 2015 at 29 percent.
3. The study found hospice service use jumped from about 21 percent in 2000 to over 50 percent in 2015. The percentage of patients who died after receiving brief hospice services (three days or fewer) decreased from 9.8 percent in 2009 to 7.7 percent in 2015.
4. Patients who had three or more hospitalizations in their last 90 days of life declined from about 11 percent in 2009 to about 7 percent in 2015.