High Hospice Penetration Reduces Hospitalization Even in Nonhospice Residents

​Evidence already exists to support the idea that hospice enrollment is linked to lower risk of hospitalization among nursing home residents at the end of life. However, a study in the February 1, 2015, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association found that in nursing homes with higher percentages of residents enrolled in hospice, end-of-life hospitalization risk is lower among both hospice-enrolled and nonhospice residents. The researchers used administrative and other data for 506,000 nonhospice residents and 242,000 hospice-enrolled residents who died over a three-year period in 14,000 U.S. nursing homes. They used models to predict the probability of hospitalization in relation to hospice penetration and resident and nursing home characteristics.