Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Researchers See Hopeful Trend In More People Dying At Home Rather Than In A Hospital Setting
The Associated Press: More Americans Are Dying At Home Rather Than In Hospitals
For the first time since the early 1900s, more Americans are dying at home rather than in hospitals, a trend that reflects more hospice care and progress toward the kind of end that most people say they want. Deaths in nursing homes also have declined, according to Wednesday's report in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Marchione, 12/11)
The New York Times: More Americans Are Dying At Home Than In Hospitals
The gap may be small, but it had been narrowing for years, and the researchers believe dying at home will continue to become more common. The last time Americans died at home at the current rate was the middle of the last century, according Dr. Haider J. Warraich, a cardiologist at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and a co-author of the new research. (Kolata, 12/11)
NBC News: More People Are Choosing To Die At Home, Instead Of In A Hospital
The flip-flop may be attributed in part to growth in home hospice care, which is covered by Medicare, said study co-author Dr. Haider Warraich, associate director of the heart failure program at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Hospice provides pain management, along with emotional support and care to terminally ill patients nearing the end of their lives, as well as their families. The number of Medicare beneficiaries receiving hospice care has steadily grown over the past decade. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization reports there were 1.49 million such recipients in 2017, a 4.5 percent increase from the year before. (Edwards, 12/11)
CNN: More People Are Dying At Home Than At The Hospital
Patients with cancer had the greatest odds of dying at home or in hospice, the report said. People with dementia died more often at a nursing home, and stroke patients had the lowest odds of dying at home. While an increasing number of people use hospice, other studies have shown that kind of care is underutilized. Medicare covers up to six months of hospice care, yet, most people only turn to hospice days, instead of months, before death, earlier studies found. (Christensen, 12/11)
