A recent study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), on national trends in mortality, hospitalizations, and expenditures in the Medicare fee-for-service population between 1999 and 2013, found that among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 years or older, all-cause mortality rates, hospitalization rates, and expenditures per beneficiary decreased from 1999 to 2013. In the last 6 months of life, total hospitalizations and inpatient expenditures decreased in recent years.
Read more: Mortality, Hospitalizations, and Expenditures for the Medicare Population Aged 65 Years or Older, 1999-2013. JAMA. 2015;314(4):355-365. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.8035