we are confronted here with a multivariate longitudinal observational study, that is, a number of different responses are measured repeatedly over time on a particular patient. The data in this study, is divided into two sets: the consumption data set which consist mainly of the response variables, and the patient data set, which is made up entirely of the explanatory variables. We have data on individual health care spending in the last year of life of 46,581 patients (aged 45 years and above). These patients have a legal stay in these five regions of Belgium, and having died in the study period. The regions include: the province of Limburg (850,000 inhabitants; +/- 8,500 deaths per year), the area around Antwerp (750,000 inhabitants;
