JAMA and Kaiser Health News Release Infographic on Medicare and End-of-Life Care

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This Visualizing Health Policy infographic provides a snapshot of Medicare and end-of-life care. Surveys show that more than 7 in 10 people aged 65 years and older have not discussed end-of-life care with a physician, and that 4 in 10 have not documented their end-of-life care wishes.

Although Medicare spent significantly more on care for people at the end of life who died in 2014 ($34,529 per person) than for other beneficiaries that year ($9,121 per person), the share of total Medicare spending for people at the end of life decreased from 18.6% to 13.5% between 2000 and 2014. Also, before Jan. 1, 2016, Medicare did not reimburse physicians for patient visits to discuss end-of-life care, and as of 2016, 68% of physicians report that they have not received training for such discussions.

Visualizing Health Policy is a monthly infographic series produced in partnership with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The full-size infographic is freely available on JAMA’s website and is published in the print edition of the journal.

Visit Kaiser Health News to learn more.

To view the slideshow on Medicare and End of Life Care, click here.