End-of-life expenditures by Ohio Medicaid beneficiaries dying of cancer.
We evaluate the extent to which the Ohio Medicaid Program serves as a safety net to terminally ill cancer patients, and the costs associated with providing care to this patient population. Over a 10-year period, Ohio Medicaid served nearly 45,000 beneficiaries dying of cancer, and spent more than $1 billion in medical care expenditures in their last year of life. Eighty percent of the expenditures were incurred by 67 percent of the decedents who had been enrolled in Medicaid for at least 1 year before death, implying an opportunity for the Medicaid Program to ensure timely transition to palliative care and hospice.
Koroukian
Siran M
SM
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-4945, USA. skoroukian@case.edu
Beaird
Heather
H
Madigan
Elizabeth
E
Diaz
Mireya
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000191:economics*; D009820:Ohio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000191:economics*