Suche
Mein Konto
The study examines the frequency of concurrent hospice and dialysis treatment among veterans with ESKD
Today, patients seeking their Medicare hospice benefits with end-stage renal disease (ESKD) are forced to make the traumatic decision between continuing dialysis or entering hospice. The Veterans Health Administration (VA) has far more liberal hospice eligibility criteria compared to Medicare; Whether such criteria improve access to concurrent dialysis and hospice care for ESKD patients was unknown before a recent study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health system. The team wanted to compare how the frequency of concurrent hospice and dialysis treatments among veterans with ESKD varied by hospice payer: Medicare, inpatient...
The study examines the frequency of concurrent hospice and dialysis treatment among veterans with ESKD
Today, patients seeking their Medicare hospice benefits with end-stage renal disease (ESKD) are forced to make the traumatic decision between continuing dialysis or entering hospice. The Veterans Health Administration (VA) has far more liberal hospice eligibility criteria compared to Medicare; Whether such criteria improve access to concurrent dialysis and hospice care for ESKD patients was unknown before a recent study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health system.
The team wanted to compare how the frequency of concurrent hospice and dialysis treatments among veterans with ESKD varied by hospice payer: Medicare, VA inpatient hospice, or VA-funded community hospice. A retrospective cross-sectional study of all 70,577 VA participants in the US Renal Data System registry was used. Based on their analysis, the team concluded that patients who received VA-funded hospice services were more likely to receive concurrent dialysis than patients who received Medicare-funded hospice services. Additionally, researchers found that patients who stopped dialysis before entering hospice died within four days on average, while those who continued the concurrent care model lived about 43 days.
“Because patients requiring dialysis for kidney failure die within days to weeks of stopping dialysis, they are particularly vulnerable to Medicare’s ‘terrible choice’ – if they choose to receive hospice services, they can expect to live a very short time after hospice stay.” Enrollment," said lead author Melissa Wachterman, MD, MPH. "Our study will provide a critical perspective as Medicare currently considers whether the Medicare hospice benefit should be changed to allow for concurrent care."
Source:
Reference:
Wachterman, M. W., et al. (2022) Association of Hospice Payers Concomitant Receipt of Hospice and Dialysis Treatments Among US Veterans With End-Stage Renal Disease. A retrospective analysis of a national cohort. JAMA Health Forum. doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.3708.
.