The Medicare Care Choices Model was associated with reductions in disparities in the use of hospice care for Medicare beneficiaries with terminal illness

Abstract: Objective. To assess the effects of the Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM) on disparities in hospice use and quality of end-of-life care for Medicare beneficiaries from underserved groups—those from racial and ethnic minority groups, dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, or living in rural areas.

Data Sources and Study Setting. Medicare enrollment and claims data from 2013 to 2021 for terminally ill Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries nationwide.

Study Design. Through MCCM, terminally ill enrolled Medicare beneficiaries received supportive and palliative care services from hospice providers concurrently with curative treatments. Using a matched comparison group, we estimated subgroup-specific effects on hospice use, days at home, and aggressive treatment and multiple emergency department visits in the last 30 days of life.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods. The sample included decedent Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in MCCM and a matched comparison group from the same geographic areas who met model eligibility criteria at time of enrollment: having a diagnosis of cancer, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or HIV/AIDS; living in the community; not enrolled in the Medicare hospice benefit in the previous 30 days; and having at least one hospital stay and three office visits in the previous 12 months.

Principal Findings. Eligible beneficiaries from underserved groups were underrepresented in MCCM. MCCM increased enrollees’ hospice use and the number of days at home and reduced aggressive treatment among all subgroups analyzed. MCCM also reduced disparities in hospice use by race and ethnicity and dual eligibility by 4.1 (90% credible interval [CI]: 1.3–6.1) and 2.4 (90% CI: 0.6–4.4) percentage points, respectively. It also reduced disparities in having multiple emergency department visits for rural enrollees by 1.3 (90% CI: 0.1–2.7) percentage points.

Conclusions. MCCM increased hospice use and quality of end-of-life care for model enrollees from underserved groups and reduced disparities in hospice use and having multiple emergency department visits.