title: Mortality, Hospitalizations, and Expenditures for the Medicare Population Aged 65 Years or Older, 1999-2013.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In a period of dynamic change in health care technology, delivery, and behaviors, tracking trends in health and health care can provide a perspective on what is being achieved.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To comprehensively describe national trends in mortality, hospitalizations, and expenditures in the Medicare fee-for-service population between 1999 and 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serial cross-sectional analysis of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older between 1999 and 2013 using Medicare denominator and inpatient files.
  
  
  METHODS
  For all Medicare beneficiaries, trends in all-cause mortality; for fee-for-service beneficiaries, trends in all-cause hospitalization and hospitalization-associated outcomes and expenditures. Geographic variation, stratified by key demographic groups, and changes in the intensity of care for fee-for-service beneficiaries in the last 1, 3, and 6 months of life were also assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample consisted of 68,374,904 unique Medicare beneficiaries (fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage). All-cause mortality for all Medicare beneficiaries declined from 5.30% in 1999 to 4.45% in 2013 (difference, 0.85 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.83-0.87). Among fee-for-service beneficiaries (n = 60,056,069), the total number of hospitalizations per 100,000 person-years decreased from 35,274 to 26,930 (difference, 8344; 95% CI, 8315-8374). Mean inflation-adjusted inpatient expenditures per Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary declined from $3290 to $2801 (difference, $489; 95% CI, $487-$490). Among fee-for-service beneficiaries in the last 6 months of life, the number of hospitalizations decreased from 131.1 to 102.9 per 100 deaths (difference, 28.2; 95% CI, 27.9-28.4). The percentage of beneficiaries with 1 or more hospitalizations decreased from 70.5 to 56.8 per 100 deaths (difference, 13.7; 95% CI, 13.5-13.8), while the inflation-adjusted inpatient expenditure per death increased from $15,312 in 1999 to $17,423 in 2009 and then decreased to $13,388 in 2013. Findings were consistent across geographic and demographic groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 years or older, all-cause mortality rates, hospitalization rates, and expenditures per beneficiary decreased from 1999 to 2013. In the last 6 months of life, total hospitalizations and inpatient expenditures decreased in recent years.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut2Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut3Department.
authors.forename: Harlan M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Krumholz
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut4Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Sudhakar V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Nuti
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut4Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Nicholas S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Downing
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts6Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Sharon-Lise T
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Normand
authors.affiliation: Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut6Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007250:Inflation, Economic; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020398:Medicare Part C / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology