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Hospice care more accessible to patients with dementia
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 29, 2010
Hospice care is much more widely available to patients with dementia than it was 15 years ago, according to a survey of the directors of 426 hospice and palliative care programs published in the November Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Ninety-four percent of hospices said they provided care to patients with dementia, compared with 21% of hospice programs in 1995, the study said. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of palliative care program directors said they cared for patients with dementia. However, the study found that inadequate insurance coverage is a barrier to dementia patients receiving in-home palliative care services before becoming eligible for hospice care (link).
"While it is heartening to see that most of these programs provide care for patients with dementia, there are many, many more who need this care than are receiving it," said the study's lead author, Alexia M. Torke, MD, assistant professor of medicine and geriatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/11/29/prbf1129.htm.
