2011 to 2023 Saw Rise in Discharges to Hospice After ICU Admission

FRIDAY, Feb. 27, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Between 2011 and 2023, there was an increase in discharges to hospice after intensive care unit (ICU) admission among Medicare beneficiaries, according to a study published online Feb. 18 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.Anica C. Law, M.D., from the Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues assessed trends in hospice use after admission to an ICU among 10.6 million Medicare beneficiaries. The analysis included adults (aged older than 65 years) enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare for at least one year who were admitted to an ICU between 2011 and 2023.The researchers found that discharges to hospice after ICU admission increased from 388 to 572 per 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Rates of discharge to hospice among ICU patients increased from 5.6 to 6.8 percent, while in-hospital mortality and 30-day mortality trends remained stable (16.0 to 15.0 percent and 23.9 to 22.0 percent, respectively). There were increases in both the frequency of do-not-resuscitate orders and palliative care delivery (10.6 to 24.9 percent and 6.8 to 14.8 percent, respectively). Median length of stay remained stable (five to six days). The rate of hospice discharge, standardized to 30-day mortality, at the hospital level increased from a median of 0.19 to 0.27 over time, indicating that a growing share of short-term decedents were transitioned to hospice prior to death. There were temporary disruptions to these trends with the COVID-19 pandemic."This finding matters because millions of families face decisions about end-of-life care every year. ICU care is intense and invasive, and many of the life-sustaining treatments offered long-term may not be what patients want near the end of life," Law said in a statement. "Seeing more people move to hospice suggests that hospitals may be focusing more on helping patients at high risk of death choose comfort-focused care."Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

2011 to 2023 Saw Rise in Discharges to Hospice After ICU Admission

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