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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Criteria for enrolling dementia patients in hospice | | Author(s) | Daniel J Luchins, Patricia Hanrahan, Kathleen Murphy |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 45, no 9, September 1997 |
| Pages | pp 1054-1059 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Terminal care ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Because survival time varies greatly, it is difficult for dementia patients to meet a key criterion for eligibility for US Medicare hospice benefit: a 6-month survival time. The authors have developed criteria for Medicare hospice benefit which include the characteristics of advanced dementia and related medical complications. This study aimed to determine survival time among dementia patients who met these criteria. Additionally, because the National Hospice Organization (NHO) developed its own guidelines while the study was in progress, their application to the sample was examined retrospectively. 47 patients from home hospices and institutional hospices were studied over 2 years. Enrolment criteria predicted a median survival time of 4 months; mean survival 6.9 months. 38% survived more than 6 months. FAST scores (Functional Assessment Staging) and mobility ratings were significantly related to survival time; however, 41% could not be scored on FAST as their disease progression was not ordinal. Using NHO criteria relying on the FAST allows identification of a sub-group with very high mortality and a short time until death. However, sole reliance on FAST might decrease access to hospice care for many dementia patients. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-981127203 A |
| Classmark | EA: LV: 3J: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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