Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Racial differences in location before hospice enrollment and association with hospice length of stay.
African Americans are less likely than Whites to enroll in hospice. In addition, patients are often referred to hospice very close to death, when they may not have time to take advantage of the full range of hospice services. Understanding how race and location before hospice enrollment are related to hospice length of stay (LOS) may inform the development of interventions to increase timely access to hospice care. ⋯ Regardless of race, those whose preadmission location was the hospital were more likely than those from other locations to die 7 days or less after hospice enrollment. Initiatives to improve end-of-life care should focus on increasing timely access to hospice referrals in settings outside of the hospital. Future research should examine whether racial differences in hospice preadmission location reflect differences in preferences for care or disparities in timely access to hospice referrals in non-acute care settings.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Do vaccination strategies implemented by nursing homes narrow the racial gap in receipt of influenza vaccination in the United States?
To determine whether the racial inequity between African Americans and Caucasians in receipt of influenza vaccine is narrower in residents of nursing homes with facility-wide vaccination strategies than in residents of facilities without vaccination strategies. ⋯ The presence of several immunization strategies in nursing homes is associated with higher vaccination coverage for Caucasian and African-American residents, narrowing the national vaccination racial gap.