Resident medical care utilization patterns in continuing care retirement communities

This article presents the findings of an evaluation of medical care service utilization by two elderly cohorts: one living in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) and the other living in traditional community settings. CCRC residents' overall use of Medicare-covered medical services did not differ significantly from that of the traditional community-residing elders. Both groups incurred annual per capita expenditures of approximately $2,000. In their last year of life, however, CCRC residents displayed significantly lower expenditures for hospital care ($3,854 versus $7,268) but higher expenditures for Medicare or non-Medicare-covered nursing home care ($5,565 versus $3,533).