title: Medicare Hospice Spending Hit $15.8 Billion In 2015, Varied By Locale, Diagnosis.
abstract: Between 2007 and 2015, Medicare hospice spending rose by 52 percent, from $10.4 billion to $15.8 billion. The rise was driven primarily by an increase in the number of patients in hospice care. Medicare spending on hospice care was $642 million, or 4.2 percent, higher in 2015 than it was in 2014. Spending and spending growth varied by geographic region and diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: John Hargraves (john.hargraves@cms.hhs.gov) is a social science research analyst in the Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in Washington, D.C.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hargraves
authors.affiliation: Niall Brennan is chief data officer and director of the Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics, both at CMS.
authors.forename: Niall
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brennan
mesh_terms: D005102:Health Expenditures; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000191:economics*; D006738:Hospices / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics*; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
keywords: Health Spending; Home Care; Long-Term Care; Medicare; Variations