Individuals who obtain residence care over the past three years of their lives are extra doubtless to make use of hospice care on the finish of their lives.

That is evident from a latest research by Rutgers Well being, printed within the Journal of Palliative Drugs. As a part of the research, researchers examined a pattern of greater than 2 million U.S. Medicare beneficiaries and Medicare Benefit beneficiaries who died in 2019 and had been enrolled for no less than three years earlier than their demise.

As well as, these older adults have been extra doubtless to make use of hospice than individuals who had by no means used residence care.

Of all Medicare beneficiaries who died in 2019, greater than half used hospice care on the finish of life, and almost half used residence well being care, someday within the final three years of life, in line with the research.

The research discovered no purpose for the existence of this hyperlink between residence care and hospice use, however Olga Jarrín, lead writer of the research, believes that seniors who already obtain residence care come into contact with nurses who’ve experience in hospice .

Jarrín – affiliate professor and Hunterdon Endowed Professor of Nursing Analysis at Rutgers – additionally identified that these seniors sometimes have entry to major care.

“Individuals don't get residence care except they’ve a referral from a physician or well being care supplier, so individuals who get residence care can get stronger major care to start with,” she mentioned. “They’re extra more likely to have conversations with physicians and different well being care suppliers that might additionally immediate them to consider advance care planning and choices for palliative care and hospice care.”

Whereas it’s common for suppliers to supply residence care and hospice companies beneath one roof, a key discovering from the research is that there’s a massive marketplace for companies that present each.

For companies that supply these companies individually, Jarrín says these findings might open the door to referral relationships.

“There are alternatives for hospice suppliers to get to know residence well being companies and ensure they’re conscious of these choices for referrals,” she mentioned.