The Most Common Medications Billed to the Medicare Hospice Benefit Among Hospice Beneficiaries in the U.S.

The use of medications that provide comfort and symptom relief to terminally ill patients is a core component of hospice care. However, national estimates of medication prescribing in hospice are limited because hospice medication claims were not previously reported in Medicare data.1 Changes in Medicare hospice payment starting in 2014 required hospices to list all medications in the hospice bill, providing the first opportunity to assess medication prescribing through the Medicare hospice benefit.
Source: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management - Category: Palliative Care Authors: Tags: Letter Source Type: research