by: Timothy Poore ( @TimCPoore ) More than 90% of non-institutionalized people over the age of 65 in the United States receive health insurance through Medicare.(1) Of the money Medicare spends on individuals, it spends nearly one quarter in the final year of one’s life, and the majority of that money is spent on hospitalizations.2,3 With much talk during this election season about entitlement reform and the looming bankruptcy of Medicare, a study recently published in The Journal of Palliative Medicine is of particular interest, offering insight on how Medicare could save money by focusing on end-of-life care at home. Cost Savings of Home Based Palliative Care Dana Lustbader and colleagues conducted a retrospective study , comparing costs of care and resource utilization during the final year of life for patients who were enrolled in a home based palliative care program, and those who received usual care. All patients included in this study received their care from Pr