Advance Care Planning in an Accountable Care Organization Is Associated with Increased Advanced Directive Documentation and Decreased Costs

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) documents patient wishes and increases awareness of palliative care options. Objective: To study the association of outpatient ACP with advanced directive documentation, utilization, and costs of care. Design: This was a case–control study of cases with ACP who died matched 1:1 with controls. We used 12 months of data pre-ACP/prematch and predeath. We compared rates of documentation with logit model regression and conducted a difference-in-difference analysis using generalized linear models for utilization and costs. Setting/subjects: Medicare beneficiaries attributed to a large rural-suburban-small metro multisite accountable care organization from January 2013 to April 2016, with cross reference to ACP facilitator logs to find cases. Measurements: The presence of advance directive forms was verified by chart review. Cost analysis included all utilization and costs billed to Medicare. Results: We matched 325 cases and 325 controls (51.1% female and 48.9% male, mean age 81). 320/325 (98.5%) ACP versus 243/325 (74.8%) of controls had a Healthcare Power of Attorney (odds ratio [OR] 21.6, 95% CI 8.6–54.1) and 172/325(52.9%) ACP versus 145/325 (44.6%) controls had Practitioner Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.02–1.90) post-ACP/postmatch. Adjusted results showed ACP cases had fewer inpatient admissions (−0.37 admissions, 95% CI −0.66 to −0.08), and inpatient days (−3.66 days, 95% CI −6.23 to −1.09), with no differences in hospice, hospice days, skilled nursing facility use, home health use, 30-day readmissions, or emergency department visits. Adjusted costs were $9,500 lower in the ACP group (95% CI −$16,207 to −$2,793). Conclusions: ACP increases documentation and was associated with a reduction in overall costs driven primarily by a reduction in inpatient utilization. Our data set was limited by small numbers of minorities and cancer patients.