2018 Articles
Medicare Expenditures and Healthcare Utilization in a Multi-ethnic Community-based Population with Dementia from Incidence to Death
Introduction: While individuals live with dementia for many years, utilization and expenditures from disease onset through the end-of-life period have not been examined in ethnically diverse samples.
Methods: We used a multiethnic, population-based, prospective study of cognitive aging (Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project) linked to Medicare claims to examine total Medicare expenditures and health care utilization among individuals with clinically diagnosed incident dementia from disease onset to death.
Results: High-intensity treatment (hospitalizations, life-sustaining procedures) was common and mean Medicare expenditures per year after diagnosis was $69,000. Non-Hispanic blacks exhibited higher spending relative to Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites 1 year after diagnosis. Non-Hispanic blacks had higher total (mean=$205,000) Medicare expenditures from diagnosis to death compared with non-Hispanic whites (mean=$118,000). Hispanics’ total expenditures and utilization after diagnosis was similar to non-Hispanic whites despite living longer with dementia.
Discussion: Health care spending for patients with dementia after diagnosis through the end-of-life is high and varies by ethnicity.
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Also Published In
- Title
- Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1097/WAD.0000000000000259
More About This Work
- Academic Units
- Neurology
- Published Here
- May 4, 2021