Characteristics of hospice care discharges: United States, 1993-94.

Objective: This report presents data on hospice care discharges. Numbers and percents of discharges are shown by selected characteristics of the agencies from which the patients were discharged, by selected patient characteristics, by services provided, by types of personnel that provided the services, and by diagnoses of these discharged patients.

Methods: The data used for this report are from the National Center for Health Statistics' 1994 National Home and Hospice Care Survey. This is an annual survey through which data are collected on the use of hospices and home health care agencies in the United States.

Results: There were an estimated 328,000 discharges from hospice care from 1,300 hospices and home health agencies in 1993-94. Death was the reason for discharge for 88 percent of the discharges. Fifty-two percent of the discharges were for men, 73 percent were for patients 65 years of age and over, 79 percent were white, 49 percent were married, and 30 percent were widowed. Eighty-three percent of the discharged patients were living in a private or semiprivate residence during their care and 95 percent had a primary caregiver. During the last time service was provided prior to discharge, 67 percent received help from the agency with at least one activity of daily living (ADL), 53 percent with at least one instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), and 30 percent with walking. These discharges had an average of 2.2 diagnoses at admission; 69 percent had a primary diagnosis of a malignant neoplasm; and 8 percent had a primary diagnosis of heart disease.