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Earlier hospice care would improve quality of end of life
Older, terminally ill patients could improve the quality of their last days by accessing hospice services much sooner, according to a Yale School of Medicine-led study.
The study found that, while Medicare covers hospice when a patient is given a prognosis of six months or less to live, most patients don’t turn to the services until the very end of life. The prognosis is made according to Medicare criteria for each condition.
“I think the main message is that there are opportunities to improve care at the end of life in terms of addressing bothersome symptoms … through earlier referral to hospice,” said Dr. Thomas Gill, professor of geriatric medicine and director of the Yale Program on Aging, who is the study’s first author.
Source: New Haven Register