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. 2020 Dec 4;17(23):9078.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17239078.

Cost of Care and Pattern of Medical Care Use in the Last Year of Life among Long-Term Care Insurance Beneficiaries in South Korea: Using National Claims Data

Sunjoo Boo  1 , Jungah Lee  2 , Hyunjin Oh  3
Affiliations

Cost of Care and Pattern of Medical Care Use in the Last Year of Life among Long-Term Care Insurance Beneficiaries in South Korea: Using National Claims Data

Sunjoo Boo et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

In Korea, a substantial proportion of long-term care insurance (LTCI) beneficiaries die within 1 year of seeking the benefit. This study was conducted to evaluate the pattern of medical care use and care cost during the last year of life among Korean LTCI beneficiaries between 2009 and 2013 using the national claims data. The National Health Insurance's Senior (NHIS-Senior) cohort was used for this retrospective study. The participants were LTCI beneficiaries aged 65 or over as of 2008 who died between 2009 and 2013 (N = 30,433). Medical costs during the last year of life were highest for those who used both medical care services and long-term care (LTC) services and increased as death approached. About half of the participants were hospitalized at the time of death. The use of LTC services at the time of death increased from 13.0 to 22.8%, while those who died at home decreased from 34 to 20%. This study suggests that the use of LTC services did not reduce medical costs by substituting unnecessary inpatient hospitalization. Quality of dying should be considered one of the goals of older adult care, and provisions should be made for palliative care at home or LTC facilities.

Keywords: aged; health care costs; insurance; long-term care.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average medical costs during the last year before death among long-term care beneficiaries. Note: numbers are means; USD 1 = KRW 1130.50.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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