Medicare Beneficiaries With Advanced Lung Cancer Experience Diverse Patterns Of Care From Diagnosis To Death.

ABSTRACT: Characterizations of average end-of-life care for people with cancer can obscure important differences in patients' experiences. Using Medicare claims data for 14,257 patients diagnosed with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer in the period 1995-2009, we used latent class analysis to identify classes of people with different care patterns. We characterized care trajectories from diagnosis to death using time spent in five care settings-home, hospital inpatient unit (acute), hospital intensive care unit (ICU), postacute skilled nursing facility, and hospice-and transitions across these settings. We identified four classes of patients: 66 percent spent the time primarily at home, 11 percent were primarily in hospice, 17 percent were largely in an acute setting, and 6 percent were largely

SUBMITTER: Schuler MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5641368 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature