Research uncovers racial disparities in hospice discharge outcomes

Research uncovers racial disparities in hospice discharge outcomes
McKnight's Clinical Daily News; by Kristen Fischer; 6/20/24
When Black patients leave hospice care alive, they have a higher risk for being admitted to a hospital, according to a study published on May 16 in JAMA Network Open. About 15% of patients who enter hospice actually wind up being discharged from it before they die. That can happen for various reasons such as unplanned hospitalization, getting other treatment for a terminal condition, transferring to another hospice service, or if their condition improves. The transition to hospice can be hard, but moving to a different care setting can be challenging as well. ... “Hospice care teams may want to pay particular attention to the discharge planning needs of patients of racial and ethnic minority groups and patients with more complicated needs,” Elizabeth Luth, the lead author of the study and a faculty member of the Center for Healthy Aging Research at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, said in a statement.
Publisher's Note: Readers interested in this topic are encouraged to review Dr. Luth's statement. It is more detailed than the McKnight's summary and perhaps more understandable than the JAMA source article that we posted on 5/25/24: Hospice Readmission, Hospitalization, and Hospital Death Among Patients Discharged Alive from Hospice.