Hospice care in the nursing home setting: a review of the literature

Abstract

The U.S. Medicare hospice benefit has expanded considerably into the nursing home (NH) setting in recent years. This literature review focuses on the provision of NH hospice, exploring its growth and the impact of such care on NH residents, cost and efficiency implications for NHs and government, and policy challenges and important areas for future research. Although hospice utilization is relatively modest among NH residents, its increased availability holds great promise. As an alternative to traditional NH care, hospice has been shown to provide high-quality end-of-life care and offer benefits, such as reduced hospitalizations and improved pain management. The provision of NH hospice also has been shown to have positive effects on nonhospice residents, suggesting indirect benefits on NH clinical practices. Importantly, the expansion of hospice in NHs brings challenges, on both clinical and policy dimensions. Research has shown that NH-hospice collaborations require effective communication around residents' changing care needs and that a range of barriers can impede the integration of hospice and NH care. Moreover, the changing case mix of hospice patients, including increased hospice use by individuals with conditions such as dementia, presents challenges to Medicare's hospice payment and eligibility policies. To date, there has been little research comparing hospice costs, service intensity, and quality of care across settings, reflecting the fact that few comparative data have been available to researchers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have taken steps toward collecting these data, and further research is needed to shed light on what refinements, if any, are necessary for the Medicare hospice program.