End-of-life emergency department use and healthcare expenditures among older adults: A nationally representative study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Emergency department (ED) visits at end-of-life may cause financial strain and serve as a marker of inadequate access to community services and health care. We sought to examine end-of-life ED use, total healthcare spending, and out-of-pocket spending in a nationally representative sample.

Methods

Using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data, we conducted a pooled cross-sectional analysis of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65+ years with a date of death between July 1, 2015 and December 31, 2021. Our primary outcomes were ED visits, total healthcare spending, and out-of-pocket spending in the 7, 30, 90, and 180 days preceding death. We estimated a series of zero-inflated negative binomial models identifying patient characteristics associated with the primary outcome

SUBMITTER: Gettel CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11735276 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature