Effectiveness of Pediatric Concurrent Hospice Care to Improve Continuity of Care

Effectiveness of Pediatric Concurrent Hospice Care to Improve Continuity of Care

Lindley LC; Cozad MJ; Mack JW; Keim-Malpass J; Svynarenko R; Hinds PS

American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine

2021

pediatric hospice care; hospice length of stay; medicaid; concurrent hospice care; care continuity; emergency department use; hospice live discharge; inpatient admission

BackgroundThe 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated landmark hospice care legislation for children at end of life. Little is known about the impact of pediatric concurrent hospice care.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine the effect of pediatric concurrent vs standard hospice care on end-of-life care continuity among Medicaid beneficiaries.MethodsUsing national Medicaid data, we conducted a quasi-experimental designed study to estimate the effect of concurrent vs standard hospice care to improve end-of-life care continuity for children. Care continuity (i.e., hospice length of stay, hospice disenrollment, emergency room transition, and inpatient transition) was measured via claims data. Exposures were concurrent hospice vs standard hospice care. Using instrumental variable analysis, the effectiveness of exposures on care continuity was compared.ResultsConcurrent hospice care affected care continuity. It resulted in longer lengths of stays in hospice (? = 2.76, P < .001) and reduced hospice live discharges (? = ?2.80, P < .05), compared to standard hospice care. Concurrent care was not effective at reducing emergency room (? = 2.09, P < .001) or inpatient care (? = .007, P < .05) transitions during hospice enrollment.ConclusionOur study provides critical insight into the quality of care delivered for children at end of life. These findings have policy implications.

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

January 2022 List