End-of-Life Care, Not End-of-Life Spending
12/13/18 at 01:25 PM
End-of-Life Care, Not End-of-Life Spending
Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH
JAMA. 2018;320(7):631-632. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.11177
People in the United States spend a lot of money at the end of life. In fact, about one quarter of all Medicare spending goes toward care for people during their last year of life. Beyond this shockingly high number, we know that end-of-life care patterns and spending vary widely across hospitals and communities. For example, although about 1 in 8 elderly persons living in Utah die in the hospital, the number is nearly 3 times higher for those who live in New York. (JAMA Forum, 7/13/18, https://newsatjama.jama.com/2018/07/13/jama-forum-end-of-life-care-not-end-of-life-spending/)