title: Influence of hospice use on hospital inpatient mortality: a state-level analysis.
abstract: This study tests the hypothesis that high hospice enrollment is associated with lower Medicare inpatient mortality. The results show that Medicare inpatient mortality in a state can be explained by hospice enrollment and a host of demographic and market environment variables. An increase in hospice population by 100 individuals is associated with a reduction of 28 inpatient deaths, ceteris paribus. The results suggest, among other things, that opportunities exist for greater expansion of hospice capacity in low-use states to reduce deaths in the expensive hospital setting and improve the quality of end-of-life care for terminally ill patients.
authors.affiliation: Fogelman College of Business and Economics, The University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
authors.forename: Cyril F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Stephanie C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Steinberg
mesh_terms: D006738:Hospices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D007297:Inpatients; D006278:Medicare; D015233:Models, Statistical; D014481:United States