Background: The National Quality Forum has endorsed hospice care as a metric of high quality end-of-life (EOL) care for adults with cancer. Specific hospice-related quality metrics include hospice enrollment, hospice enrollment for ≥3d, and death outside of the acute care setting. These metrics have been examined extensively in adults and disparities related to a number of clinical and sociodemographic factors, including insurance, have been identified. However, for children with cancer, hospice utilization data is lacking. We addressed this gap by examining location of death and hospice utilization at EOL for children with cancer and determining whether these metrics varied with insurance status. Methods: We used national insurance claims data (Truven) to conduct a population-based analysis of patients with cancer who died between 2011 and 2017 at age 0-21y. The dataset was queried for hospice claims, inpatient claims, and location of death. The association between insurance (private vs. Medicaid) and 1) location of death, 2) hospice enrollment, and 3) days between first hospice claim and death was examined using multivariable regression analysis, adjusting for age at death, gender, and cancer diagnosis (hematologic malignancies vs. solid tumor). Results: A total of 1,492 children died at a mean age of 11y (SD: 6y); 56% were privately-insured, 56% were male, and 30% had hematologic malignancies. Overall, 58% died in the hospital (privately-insured: 54% vs. Medicaid: 63%). Forty-five percent enrolled in hospice (privately-insured: 46% vs. Medicaid: 43%) with 2% returning to the hospital to die after enrolling in hospice. The average time between first hospice claim and death was 3d (privately-insured: 10d vs. Medicaid: 2d, p = < 0.001). When compared to privately-insured children, children on Medicaid had similar likelihood of hospice enrollment (RR = 1.0, 95%Cl = 0.6-1.8). However, children on Medicaid were more likely to die in the hospital (RR = 1.3, 95%CI = 1.1-1.4) and have fewer days between hospice enrollment and death if enrolled in hospice (IRR: 0.5, 95%CI = 0.3-0.8). Conclusions: In this first study to examine national hospice utilization in children with cancer, care varies significantly with insurance status. Children on Medicaid are more likely to die in the hospital and have shorter hospice enrollment duration than children with private insurance. Whether this variation represents EOL care preferences, provider biases, differences in quality and availability of hospice or home care to different insurers, or other barriers needs to be examined.

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