EOM 2: Proportion of Patients who Died who Were Admitted to Hospice for 3 Days or More

This is a claims-based reporting measure for each 6-month Performance Period.

MEASURE DESCRIPTION

Proportion of episodes ending in death in which the beneficiary was enrolled in hospice for at least 3 days immediately before death.

Exclusion/Exceptions: None

Risk Adjustment: None 

Scoring: Up to 12 points

 Relevance to Value Based Care

Although the use of hospice and other palliative care services at the end of life has increased, many patients are enrolled in hospice for fewer than 3 days before their death, which limits the benefit they may gain from these services. One recent retrospective study of more than 64,000 patients with cancer who were admitted to hospice found that over 16% of those patients were only enrolled in the last three days of life or less (O’Connor et al., 2015). The rate of patients who do not have a hospice referral prior to death continues to be higher than desired with one study reporting that more than 30% of patients were not referred and of those patients, only 7% had a documented discussion on the option of palliative care (O’Connor et al., 2015). Patients enrolled in hospice experience increased survival times along with a reduction in resource use, such as less aggressive end of life care and fewer hospital admissions; these favorable outcomes increased the longer patients were enrolled in hospice (Lee, 2015; Langton, 2014)

RESOURCES