Miller, S. & Brunner, B. (2007). How Does the Timing of Hospice Referral Influence Hospice Care in the Last Days of Life? Journal of the American geriatrics Society 51:6; 798-806
This a study of the patients enrolled in hospice and the determinants of the kind of hospice that they received in their last moments of life, particularly how the timing shaped the continuous use of hospice home care and inpatient hospice care. The sample was about 28,423 hospice patients from the same hospice provider who designed seven programs covering seven states. The observations proved that patients on the verge of death do not continuously use hospice home care. The probability of passing away under inpatient hospice care is higher for patients referred from hospitals and those referred when on the verge of death. In future, it realizes that the demand for physicians and caretakers will escalate more than the ability to provide for these services. To solve this, innovative care units have introduced new technologies of providing service beyond the walls of hospitals through tele consultations and telemedicine.
