Do Rural Elders Have Limited Access to Medicare Hospice Services?
Author(s): Beth A. Virnig, Ira S. Moscovice, Sara B. Durham, Michelle M. Casey Research centers: Minnesota Rural Health Research Center , Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center Topics: Aging, Hospice and palliative care, Medicare Citation: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 52(5), 731-5 Date: 2004 The authors examined whether there are urban-rural differences in use of the Medicare hospice benefit before death and whether those differences suggest that there is a problem with access to hospice care for rural Medicare beneficiaries. Rates of hospice care before death were negatively associated with degree of rurality. The lowest rate of hospice use, 15.2% of deaths, was seen in rural areas not adjacent to an urban area. The highest rate of use, 22.2% of deaths, was seen in urban areas. Rural areas adjacent to urban areas had an intermediate level of hospice use (17.0% of deaths). Hospices based in rural areas had a smaller number of elderly patients each year than hospices
