Analysis Of End-Of-Life Care, Out-Of-Pocket Spending, And Place Of Death In 16 European Countries And Israel [International Experience]

We examined a large, multicountry data set with waves of data from the period 2006–13 to determine the differences in health care usage, out-of-pocket spending, and place of death in sixteen European countries and Israel. Our results reveal the importance of the funding mechanisms of long-term care. They also illuminate the effect of patients’ characteristics on end-of-life care pathways. We found that in countries where public financing and organization of long-term care are particularly strong, patients at the end of life are more likely to have reduced hospitalizations and a higher share of out-of-hospital deaths. Understanding end-of-life care patterns is crucial to developing policies to address the urgent public health priority that this aspect of health care presents.
Source: Health Affairs - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: International Issues, Health Spending International Experience Source Type: research