Ageing and health‐care expenditure: the red herring argument revisited

Seshamani, Meena; Gray, Alastair

doi:10.1002/hec.826

Cited by 219 publications

(169 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…[11][12][13][14][15][16] In some countries, this effect is diminished in extreme old age because of substitution of care in other settings (such as care homes) for hospital admission. 17,18 The overall effect of increased survival appears to be to delay the years of high spending to the end of life, with some shift away from acute care costs. Transitions, therefore, are likely to be a major contributor to overall health-care costs.…”

Section: Definition and Importance Of Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitions at the end of life for older adults – patient, carer and professional perspectives: a mixed-methods study

Hanratty

Lowson

Grande

et al. 2014

Health Services and Delivery Research

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BackgroundThe end of life may be a time of high service utilisation for older adults. Transitions between care settings occur frequently, but may produce little improvement in symptom control or quality of life for patients. Ensuring that patients experience co-ordinated care, and moves occur because of individual needs rather than system imperatives, is crucial to patients’ well-being and to containing health-care costs.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to understand the experiences, influences and consequences of transitions between settings for older adults at the end of life. Three conditions were the focus of study, chosen to represent differing disease trajectories.SettingEngland.ParticipantsThirty patients aged over 75 years, in their last year of life, diagnosed with heart failure, lung cancer and stroke; 118 caregivers of decedents aged 66–98 years, who had died with heart failure, lung cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or selected other cancers; and 43 providers and commissioners of services in primary care, hospital, hospice, social care and ambulance services.Design and methodsThis was a mixed-methods study, composed of four parts: (1) in-depth interviews with older adults; (2) qualitative interviews and structured questionnaire with bereaved carers of older adult decedents; (3) telephone interviews with care commissioners and providers using case scenarios derived from the interviews with carers; and (4) analysis of linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and mortality data relating to hospital admissions for heart failure and lung cancer in England 2001–10.ResultsTransitions between care settings in the last year of life were a common component of end-of-life care across all the data sets that made up this study, and many moves were made shortly before death. Patients’ and carers’ experiences of transitions were of a disjointed system in which organisational processes were prioritised over individual needs. In many cases, the family carer was the co-ordinator and provider of care at home, excluded from participation in institutional care but lacking the information and support to extend their role with confidence. The general practitioner (GP) was a valued, central figure in end-of-life care across settings, though other disciplines were critical of GPs’ expertise and adherence to guidelines. Out-of-hours services and care homes were identified by many as contributors to unnecessary transitions. Good relationships and communication between professionals in different settings and sectors was recognised by families as one of the most important influences on transitions but this was rarely acknowledged by staff.ConclusionsDevelopment of a shared understanding of professional and carer roles in end-of-life transitions may be one of the most effective ways of improving patients’ experiences. Patients and carers manage many aspects of end-of-life care for themselves. Identifying ways to extend their skills and strengthen their voices, particularly in hospital settings, would be welcomed and may reduce unnecessary end-of-life transitions. Why the experiences of carers appear to have changed little, despite the implementation of a range of relevant policies, is an important question that has not been answered. Recommendations for future research include the relationship between policy interventions and the experiences of end-of-life carers; identification of ways to harmonise understanding of the carers’ role and strengthen their voice, particularly in hospital settings; identification of ways to reduce the influence of interprofessional tensions in end-of-life care; and development of interventions to enhance patients’ experiences across transitions.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

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Section: Definition and Importance Of Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitions at the end of life for older adults – patient, carer and professional perspectives: a mixed-methods study

Hanratty

Lowson

Grande

et al. 2014

Health Services and Delivery Research

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“…At the macro-economic level, the vast majority of studies find that age structure has a small or non significant impact on health care expenditures, whereas GDP has a sizeable and highly significant impact [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. At the individual level, micro-economic studies find as well that the influence of age on health care expenditure is significantly reduced when proximity to death is taken into account [9][10][11][12][13] . Recently, the OECD [14] provided retrospective decompositions of the growth in public health care spending, together with projections for 2050.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health expenditure growth: reassessing the threat of ageing

2006

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In this paper we evaluate the respective effects of demographic change, changes in morbidity and changes in practices on growth in health care expenditures. We use microdata, i.e. representative samples of 3441 and 5003 French individuals observed in 1992 and 2000. Our data provide detailed information about morbidity and allow us to observe three components of expenditures: ambulatory care, pharmaceutical and hospital expenditures. We propose an original microsimulation method to identify the components of the drift observed between 1992 and 2000 in the health expenditure age profile. On the one hand, we find empirical evidence of health improvement at a given age: changes in morbidity induce a downward drift of the profile. On the other hand, the drift due to changes in practices is upward and sizeable. Detailed analysis attributes most of this drift to technological innovation. After applying our results at the macroeconomic level, we find that the rise in health care expenditures due to ageing is relatively small. The impact of changes in practices is 3.8 times larger. Furthermore, changes in morbidity induce savings which more than offset the increase in spending due to population ageing. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…Prior research identifies increasing age as a factor associated with higher health care utilization rates and costs. 16 This study found that the younger age of an acute leukemia patient is associated significantly with higher average cost. Bertakis et al identified a gender difference in the use of health care services, with a higher rate of use in women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%