Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, Brown University

Use of Medicare's Hospice Benefit by Nursing Facility Residents"


Dr. Susan Miller is an assistant professor of community health (research) who has been at the Center for Gerontology & Health Care Research since 1997. Dr. Miller is a health services researcher who was trained in gerontology and epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago. Her present research interests focus on access to and utilization of long-term care services by older adults as well as on the evaluation of the effect of health care policy on utilization and patient outcomes. Dr. Miller is particularly interested in research on vulnerable older adults, especially those with life-limiting illness and/or Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Dr. Miller's present work involves studying the differences in processes, outcomes and hospital utilization at the end of life for nursing facility residents enrolled and not enrolled in Medicare hospice. She is also presently studying the utilization of hospice continuous care and factors influencing this use. Additionally, Dr. Miller is co-principal investigator on an Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research funded study examining "Facility Effects on Racial Differences In Nursing Home Quality" and an investigator on an Andrus Foundation funded study on "Reciprocity and Successful Aging Among Older Persons with Multiple Chronic Conditions".