Data and Code for: "Dying or Lying? For-Profit Hospices and End of Life Care"

This is data and code for the article: "Dying or Lying? For-Profit Hospice and End of Life Care." <br><br>Abstract:<br>

The Medicare hospice program is intended to provide palliative care to terminal patients,
but patients with long stays in hospice are highly profitable, motivating concerns about
overuse among the Alzheimer’s and Dementia (ADRD) population in the rapidly growing for-
profit sector. We provide the first causal estimates of the effect of for-profit hospice on
patient spending using the entry of for-profit hospices over twenty years. We find hospice
has saved money for Medicare by offsetting other expensive care among ADRD patients. As
a result, policies limiting hospice use including revenue caps and anti-fraud lawsuits are
distortionary and deter potentially cost-saving admissions.

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本数据集及配套代码对应学术论文"临终与否？营利性临终关怀与终末期医疗照护"。

摘要：
美国联邦医疗保险（Medicare）临终关怀项目初衷为终末期患者提供姑息治疗，但长期入住临终关怀机构的患者可带来高额收益，这引发了人们对快速扩张的营利性领域内阿尔茨海默病与痴呆症（Alzheimer’s and Dementia, ADRD）群体过度使用该服务的担忧。
本研究依托二十余年的营利性临终关怀机构准入数据，首次对营利性临终关怀对患者医疗支出的影响开展因果效应估计。研究发现，临终关怀服务可抵消阿尔茨海默病与痴呆症群体的其他高额医疗开支，从而为美国联邦医疗保险节约了成本。据此，包括收入上限设置与反欺诈诉讼在内的限制临终关怀使用的政策，实则具有扭曲性，会遏制本可节约成本的患者收治行为。