By Jim Parker | Hospice News | March 22, 2023

Despite years of scrutiny over the duration of hospice care, new data show that longer stays reduce health care costs in the last year of life by as much as 11%.

All told, hospice care — regardless of length of stay — saves Medicare approximately $3.5 billion for patients in their last year of life, a 3.1% reduction. But those with stays of six months or more yielded the highest percentage of savings.

A trio of organizations published these findings Wednesday in a joint report, including the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), and NORC at the University of Chicago. Read more…