Mortality, Hospitalizations, Cost Has Decreased For Medicare Beneficiaries

The Journal of the American Medical Association recently publihsed a study on the mortality, hospitalization, and expenditure trends for the Medicare population age 65+. Here are some key findings from the article:

·         All-cause mortality for all Medicare beneficiaries declined from 5.3% in 1999 to 4.45% in 2013.

·         The total number of hospitalizations per 100,000 people decreased by 8,344 from 1999-2013.

·         Hopitalizations in the last 6 months of life dropped from 131.1 to 102.9 per 100 deaths.

·         Inpatient expenditures per Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary dropped from $3290 to $2801.

·         70.5% of beneficiary deaths required 1 or more hospitalizations in 1999, compared to 56.8% in 2013.

·         Inpatient expenditure per death was $15,312 in 1999, $17,423 in 2009, then decreased to $13,388 in 2013.

Source: JAMA, July 28, 2015