End-of-life care and health care spending for Medicare beneficiaries with dementia in accountable care organizations

End-of-life care and health care spending for Medicare beneficiaries with dementia in accountable care organizations
JAMA Network; by Jessica J. Zhang, David B. Reuben, Anne M. Walling, David S. Zingmond, Cheryl L. Damberg, Neil S. Wenger, Haiyong Xu, Ryo Ikesu, Gillian S. Kaneshiro, Alexandra Klomhaus, Hiroshi Gotanda, Yusuke Tsugawa; 5/9/25
This study of 162,034 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who died from 2017 through 2020 found no evidence of differences in end-of-life care processes, outcomes, or spending between beneficiaries in ACO vs non-ACO. These findings suggest that alternative payment models to ACOs may be needed to coordinate high-quality care with lower health care spending for Medicare beneficiaries with dementia at the end of life.