Susan Miller is a gerontologist and epidemiologist whose research focuses on nursing home end-of-life care as well as long-term care access and utilization (especially at the end of life).  She is particularly interested in care access and quality for persons with dementia and with how health care policy influences care access and quality.  Dr. Miller was principal investigator on two Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) funded studies to evaluate the cost and quality of hospice care in nursing homes.  As an Open Society Institute, Project on Death in America Faculty Scholar, Dr. Miller conducted a state survey of nursing home administrators in Rhode Island (RI) as well as a qualitative study in RI nursing homes and hospices to better understand the factors associated hospice utilization.   This study informed the work of the RI Attorney General’s Task Force for Improving End-of-Life Care leading to its sponsorship of a statewide nursing home education effort as well as to efforts to change state Medicaid billing practices.   Dr. Miller’s recent research includes a RWJ-funded study to identify and disseminate “collaborative solutions” in nursing home end-of-life care (particularly relating to the nursing home/hospice collaboration), a physician intervention study funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island aimed at positively influencing physician hospice referral practices, and research funded by the NIA examining the association between state policies and hospitalization for minority and cognitively impaired nursing home residents. Ongoing research includes an NIA-funded project to develop a mortality prediction model for nursing home residents with dementia, a Alzheimer’s Association-funded project to compare hospice quality of care for patients with dementia versus other diagnoses,  and in conjunction with memory clinic staff at Butler, Memorial and RI hospitals, development of a dementia research database that will be used for dementia-related research.  Additionally, in conjunction with a recently awarded United Way grant, Dr. Miller will be working with Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island on a project to increase hospice access to RI’s Hispanic Community.  The goal of Dr. Miller's research is to generate and disseminate knowledge to inform policymaking and care provision; the ultimate goal is to improve access to and the quality of long-term care, particularly end-of-life care.

Most Recent Publication

Palliative Care/Hospice For Persons With Terminal and/or Chronic Progressive Illness (pdf 2MB)

The Nursing Home/Hospice Partnership
www.nhpco.org/nursinghomes

Publications

Palliative Care/Hospice For Persons With Terminal and/or Chronic Progressive Illness (pdf 2MB)

Intrator O, Grabowski D, Zinn J, Schleinitz M, Feng Z, Miller SC, Mor V.  Hospitalization of Nursing Home Residents: The Effects of States’ Medicaid Payment
and Bed-Hold Policies, Health Services Research, IN PRESS.

Miller SC. Papandonatos G, Fennel M, Mor V.  2006. Facility and county effects on racial differences in nursing home quality indicators, Social Science and Medicine, IN PRESS but  available at Social Science and Medicine website.

Grunier A, Miller SC.  2006. Hospice care in the nursing home: Changes in visit volume from enrollment to discharge among longer-stay residents. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, IN PRESS.

Gozalo P, Miller SC. 2006. Hospice Enrollment and Evaluation of Its Causal Effect on Hospitalization of Dying Nursing Home Patients. Health Services Research, IN PRESS but available at Health Services Research website.

Shield RS, Wetle T, Teno J, Miller SC, Welch L. 2005. Physicians "missing in action:" Family Perspectives on physician and staffing problems in end-of-life care in the nursing home. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 53:1651-7.

Wetle T, Shield RS, Teno J. Miller SC, Welch L. Family perspectives on end-of-life care experiences in nursing homes. Gerontologist, 45: 642-50.

Schockett ER, Teno JM, Miller SC, Stuart B. Late Referral to Hospice and Bereaved Family Member Perception of Quality of End of Life Care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 30: 400-07.

Miller SC and Ryndes T. 2005. Quality of life at the end of life: The public health perspective. Generations, 29: 41-47.

Mitchell SL, Teno JM, Miller SC, Mor V. 2005. A national study of the location of death for older persons with dementia. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 53: 299-305.

Mor, V, Papandonatos G, Miller SC. 2005. End-of-life hospitalization for African-American and non-Latino White nursing home residents: Variation by race and a facility's racial composition. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 8: 58-68.

Wu N, Miller SC, Lapane K, Roy J, Mor V. 2005. The quality of the quality indicator of unmanaged pain derived from the Minimum Data Set (MDS). Journal of Health Services Research, 4: 1197-1216.

Wu N, Miller SC, Lapane K, Roy J, Mor V. 2005. Impact of cognitive function on assessments of nursing home residents' pain. Medical Care, 43: 934-39.

Miller SC, Mor V, Teno J. 2004. Hospice and palliative care in long-term care facilities. In: Emanuel, L. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine: End-of-Life Care, 20: 717-34.

Miller SC, Mor V. 2004. The opportunity for collaborative care provision: Nursing homes contracting with hospices in U.S. states, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 28: 537-47.

Miller SC. 2004. Hospice care in nursing homes: How does site of care influence visit volume? Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 52: 1331-1336.

Miller SC, Intrator O, Gozalo P, Roy J, Barber J, Mor V. 2004. Government expenditures at the end-of-life for short and long-stay nursing home residents: Differences by hospice enrollment, Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 52: 1284-92.

Mor V, Zinn J, Angelleli J, Teno J, Miller S. 2004. Driven to tiers: Socioeconomic and racial disparities in the quality of nursing home care. The Milbank Quarterly, 82(2):227-56.

Miller SC, Mor V, Teno J. 2003. Hospice Enrollment and Pain Assessment and Management in Nursing Homes. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 26 (3): 791--799.

Miller SC, Weitzen S, Kinzbrunner B. 2003. Factors Associated with the high prevalence of short hospice stays. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 6 (5): 725--736.

Wu N, Miller SC, Lapane K, Gozalo P. 2003. The problem of assessment bias when measuring the hospice effect on nursing home residents' pain, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 26 (5): 998-1009.

Miller SC, Kinzbrunner B, Pettit P, Williams JR. 2003. How does the timing of hospice referral influence hospice care in the last days of life? Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 51:798-806.

Miller SC & Mor V. 2002. The role of Hospice Care in the nursing home setting. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 5:271-277.

Miller SC, Mor V, Wu N, Gozola P, Lapane K. 2002. Does receipt of hospice care in nursing homes improve the management of pain at the end-of-life? The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 50:507-515.

Miller SC, Mor V. 2001. The emergence of Medicare hospice care in U.S. nursing homes, Palliative Medicine, 15:471-480.

Miller SC, Gozalo P, Mor V. 2001. Hospice enrollment and hospitalization of dying nursing home patients, American Journal of Medicine, 111:38-44.

Fennell, M, Miller SC, Mor V. 2000. Facility effects on racial differences in nursing home quality, American Journal of Medical Quality, 15(4): 174-181.

Miller SC, Prohaska TR, Furner SE. 1999. Nursing home admission for African Americans with Alzheimer's Disease, Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 54A(7): M365-369.

Miller SC, Prohaska TR. Furner SE, Freels S, Brody, JA, Levy PS. 1998. Time to nursing home admission for persons with Alzheimer's disease: The effect of health care system characteristics. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 53B (6): S341-S353.