Medical care
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Few studies have examined comprehensively racial/ethnic variations in quality of end-of-life care. ⋯ Bereaved family members of minority Veterans generally rate the quality of end-of-life care less favorably than those of white Veterans. Family perceptions are critical to the evaluation of equity and quality of end-of-life care.
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Hospital readmissions are common, expensive, and increasingly used as a metric for assessing quality of care. The relationship between index hospitalizations and specific outcomes among those readmitted remains largely unknown. ⋯ We identified factors, including sepsis and shock during the index hospitalization, associated with death or transition to hospice care during readmission. Infection was frequently implicated as the cause of a readmission that ended in death.