Increased health service utilization costs in the year prior to institutionalization: findings from the canadian study of health and aging.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to characterize patterns of formal health service utilization costs during older adults' transition from community to institutional care.

Methods: Participants were 127 adults (age ≥ 65) from the British Columbia sample (N = 2,057) of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging who transitioned from community to institutional care between 1991 and 2001. Health service utilization costs were measured using Cost-Per-Day-At-Risk at five time points: > 12 months, 6-12 months, and ≤ 6 months preinstitutionalization, and ≤ 6 months and 6-12 months postinstitutionalization.