Dartmouth Atlas Report

US End-of-Life Care Changing: While Medicare Patients are Spending Less Time in Hospital, Those Admitted Receive More Intensive Care

Chronically ill Medicare patients spent fewer days in the hospital and received more hospice care in 2007 than they did in 2003, but at the same time there was an increase in the intensity of care for patients who were hospitalized, according to the Dartmouth Atlas Project report "Trends and Variation in End-of-Life Care for Medicare Beneficiaries with Severe Chronic Illness."

"It may be possible to reduce spending, while also improving the quality of care, by ensuring that patient preferences are more closely followed," said David C. Goodman, M.D., M.S., lead author and co-principal investigator.

Download the full report in PDF from Dartmouth Atlas website.