The Revised Medical Care Act is associated with a decrease in hospital death for the total Japanese older adult population regardless of dementia status: An interrupted time series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In 2006, Japan introduced the Revised Medical Care Act aimed to shift end-of-life care from hospitals to communities. For patients and families, dying in hospital can be highly distressing. Persons with dementia are especially susceptible to negative hospital-related outcomes. This study aims to evaluate whether the Revised Medical Care Act is associated with a decrease in the proportion of hospital deaths for older adults and persons with dementia over a 20-year period covering the reform.

Methods and findings

This is a population-level, repeated cross-sectional study using mortality data from Vital Statistics Japan. Participants were Japanese older adults 65 years or older with and without dementia who died between 1996 and 2016. The policy intervention was the

SUBMITTER: Wammes JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8893620 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature