Medicare Beneficiaries With Advanced Lung Cancer Experience Diverse Patterns Of Care From Diagnosis To Death.

摘要: Characterizations of average end-of-life care for people with cancer can obscure important differences in patients’ experiences. Using Medicare claims data 14,257 patients diagnosed extensive-stage small-cell lung the period 1995–2009, we used latent class analysis to identify classes different patterns. We characterized trajectories from diagnosis death using time spent five settings—home, hospital inpatient unit (acute), intensive (ICU), postacute skilled nursing facility, and hospice—and transitions across these settings. identified four patients: 66 percent primarily at home, 11 percent were hospice, 17 percent largely an acute setting, 6 percent ICU. Patients differed significantly terms baseline clinical characteristics, survival length, site death, spending. The findings show substantial heterogeneity ...