Seriously ill persons and their families face substantial economic impact at the end
of life.
1
Prior research has not examined whether burden varies by site of death. As the focus
of Medicare policy shifts toward persons “aging in place” and dying at home,
2
,3
it is important to understand how families are financially impacted. Recent research
has focused on persons with a cancer diagnosis,
1
with up to 73% of persons reporting economic burdens caused by their illness.
4
,5
No studies have examined whether family economic impact varies by site of death using
a mortality follow-back survey.
1
This is an important topic given that the highest costs for care are often incurred
in the last months of life.
6
,
7
,
8
The goals of this study were to 1) assess the economic burden of serious illness
on families or close friends by site of death and 2) understand whether reports of
economic burden vary by cancer versus noncancer diagnoses.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Socioeconomic variation in the financial consequences of ill health for older people with chronic diseases: a systematic review.Maturitas. 2013; 74: 313-333
- Change in end-of-life care for Medicare beneficiaries: site of death, place of care, and health care transitions in 2000, 2005, and 2009.JAMA. 2013; 309: 470-477
Institute of Medicine. Dying in America: improving quality and honoring individual preferences near the end of life. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2015.
- A systematic review of financial toxicity among cancer survivors: we can't pay the co-pay.Patient. 2017; 10: 295-309
- Reporting and grading financial toxicity.J Clin Oncol. 2014; 32: 3337-3338
- Long-term trends in Medicare payments in the last year of life.Health Serv Res. 2010; 45: 565-576
- Health insurance and out-of-pocket costs in the last year of life among decedents utilizing the ICU.Crit Care Med. 2019; 47: 749-756
- End-of-life medical spending in last twelve months of life is lower than previously reported.Health Aff (Millwood). 2017; 36: 1211-1217
- Validation of toolkit after-death bereaved family member interview.J Pain Symptom Manage. 2001; 22: 752-758
- Development of valid and reliable measures of patient and family experiences of hospice care for public reporting.J Palliat Med. 2018; 21: 924-932
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 04, 2021
Accepted:
January 25,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
