Differences in Caregiver Reports of the Quality of Hospice Care Across Settings

OBJECTIVES: To examine variation in reported experiences with hospice care by setting. DESIGN: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Hospice (CAHPS®) Survey data from 2016 were analyzed. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to examine differences in measure scores by setting of care (home, nursing home [NH], hospital, freestanding hospice inpatient unit [IPU], and assisted living facility [ALF]). SETTING: A total of 2636 US hospices. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 311 635 primary caregivers of patients who died in hospice. MEASUREMENTS: Outcomes were seven hospice quality measures, including five composite measures that assess aspects of hospice care important to patients and families, including hospice team communication, timeliness of care, treating family member with respect, symptom management, and emotional and spiritual support, and two global measures of the overall rating of the hospice and willingness to recommend it to friends and family. Analyses were adjusted for mode of survey administration and differences in case-mix between hospices. RESULTS: Caregivers of decedents who received hospice care in a NH reported significantly worse experiences than caregivers of those in the home for all measures. ALF scores were also significantly lower than home for all measures, except providing emotional and spiritual support. Differences in NH and ALF settings compared to home were particularly large for hospice team communication (ranging from −11 to −12 on a 0-100 scale) and getting help for symptoms (ranging from −7 to −10). Consistently across all care settings, hospice team communication, treating family member with respect, and providing emotional and spiritual support were most strongly associated with overall rating of care. CONCLUSIONS: Important opportunities exist to improve quality of hospice care in NHs and ALFs. Quality improvement and regulatory interventions targeting the NH and ALF settings are needed to ensure that all hospice decedents and their family receive high-quality, patient- and family-centered hospice care. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1218–1225, 2020.