Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2024

Anti-kickback and health care fraud cases have recently cropped up in two southern states, with hospice personnel facing millions in fines and one owner facing imprisonment for their involvement. David Lovell, its founder and owner, launched the for-profit hospice in 2010, and the enterprise became Medicare-certified in 2012.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Program integrity issues that have heated up in the hospice space during the past five years reached a boiling point in 2023. Hospice providers have seen an array of increased regulatory oversight in 2023. There is scrutiny on hospice care [that’s] setting the stage for the next phase of what hospice oversight looks like.

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Hospice News

MARCH 12, 2024

Program integrity and an onslaught of audits are top of mind for many hospice providers in 2024. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). We look forward to continuing our work with CMS and Congress to ensure an equitable and effective enforcement system that preserves access to nonprofit, mission driven hospice care.”

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Residential Hospice has acquired Illinois-based Safe Haven Hospice from the senior living provider Christian Horizons for an undisclosed sum. More than 57,000 Illinois residents enrolled in hospice during 2021, a utilization rate of about 47%, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Hospice News

MARCH 13, 2024

As hospice program integrity remains in the spotlight, California remains the only state to take action on curbing the problem. Beginning in 2021, numerous reports emerged of unethical or illegal practices among hundreds of newly licensed hospices, particularly among new companies popping up in California, Texas, Nevada and Arizona.

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Hospice News

JULY 25, 2022

A federal court has sentenced Liana Karapetyan, former co-owner of California-based ANG Health Care, Excel Hospice, and Excel Home Healthcare, to 18 years in prison for hospice fraud and anti-kickback violations. Atoyan was co-owner of the hospice and home health businesses and has pled guilty for his role in the scheme. “In

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Croix Hospice has expanded in Wisconsin, opening its 14th location in the state. Croix Hospice CEO Heath Bartness said in a press release. The Badger State’s population of seniors 60 and older was outpacing the growth of other age groups in 2012 and is projected to increase with an uptick of nearly 36% by 2030.

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Hospice News

JUNE 13, 2023

Department of Justice (DOJ) is prioritizing hospice as the agency cracks down on health care fraud. DOJ counts hospice claims among the root causes of rising Medicare costs in recent years, according to Lisa Miller, deputy assistant attorney general overseeing the department’s Crime Fraud Section.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

“The LIFE program is a great example of Empath Health Full Life Care,” President and CEO Jonathan Fleece said in an announcement shared with Hospice News. “We Empath offers hospice care through several brands, including Tidewell Hospice, Suncoast Hospice, Empath Hospice, Hospice of Marion County and Suncoast Hospice of Hillsborough.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 24, 2023

Increased hospice oversight aimed at curbing fraud in the industry could come with a mixed bag of financial and operational impacts for providers. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has honed in on hospice program integrity, rolling out a swath of new measures to reduce fraud, waste and abuse in the space.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

Currently, the palliative care space is dominated by hospices and health systems. Only 7% of community-based palliative care programs are operated by home health organizations, compared to about 50% for hospices and 7%, according to 2019 data from the Center to Advance Palliative Care.

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Hospice News

MARCH 25, 2024

Arizona-based Stoneridge Hospice launched services in 2020 with an aim to address a swelling aging population’s growing need for end-of-life care. Stoneridge Hospice provides home-based hospice and also contracts with other providers to offer facility-based services. Stoneridge Hospice launched in 2020.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 12, 2023

A federal court has sentenced Akop Atoyan, former co-owner of three California home health and hospice agencies, to 25 months in prison for health care fraud and kickback schemes. He and his wife Liana Karapetyan owned ANG Health Care, Excel Hospice, and Excel Home Healthcare in the Sacramento area. Atoyan pled guilty to the changes.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 30, 2022

Michigan-headquartered Residential Hospice has acquired Comfort Hospice in Missouri and Grace Hospice in Ohio for undisclosed amounts. Residential purchased the two hospices from health care company U.S. Medical Management will retain its hospice locations outside of St. Hospice utilization in Missouri reached 50.2%

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

Utah-based Canyon Home Health & Hospice recently acquired Uintah Home Health and Hospice for an undisclosed amount, growing its footprint in the Beehive State state. Uintah Home Health and Hospice patients began receiving services under the Canyon umbrella earlier this month. Its hospice utilization rate reached 60.5%

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 2, 2022

The recent article by the New Yorker and ProPublica that branded “hospice” as a profiteering “hustle” was an outrageous misrepresentation of the provider community. The National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), for instance, filed an amicus brief with the court. Even when a hospice plays by the rules, death does not.

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Hospice News

JULY 19, 2023

The incidence of end-stage heart failure is expected to rise throughout the next decade, and hospices are preparing to serve those patients when they become eligible. The number of people who suffer from heart failure is expected to rise by 46% between 2012 and 2023, the American Heart Association (AHA) reported.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 27, 2023

Hospices should be paying close attention to effective development and adherence to care plans when it comes to compliance in 2023. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented significant changes to the hospice survey process effective Jan.

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Hospice News

JULY 24, 2023

On the heels of its $710 million acquisition of Heartland Hospice, Gentiva has opened a do novo in Mississippi. To me hospice is about allowing those at the end of life to gain the care, respect and dignity they deserve. billion divestiture of Kindred at Home’s hospice and personal care segments. s (NYSE: HUM) $2.8

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Hospice News

JULY 11, 2023

Increased regulatory and clinical oversight is needed to address common billing and documentation errors related to hospice general inpatient care, according to the U.S. Roughly one-third of Medicare claims for general inpatient hospice services (GIP) are billed in error, the OIG indicated.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 4, 2022

“When we think really along the lines of that full continuum [of home-based care], we are developing our provider line, or home health line and hospice,” Choice Health at Home CEO David Jackson previously told Hospice News. “We With that infusion of capital, Choice purchased Kindful Hospice and Amed Home. By 2050, nearly 2.5

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Hospice News

MAY 30, 2023

Though nonprofit hospices now represent a smaller slice of the industry than in years past, they continue to care for more than half of patients in the United States who elect the benefit. The number of hospices operating nationwide rose to 5,3,58 in 2021, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

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Hospice News

APRIL 16, 2024

Calls are growing louder in support of increased accreditation organization oversight that could help curb fraudulent activity in the hospice space. Rising concerns about maleficence among accredited hospice organizations was a leading reason that CMS cited for the proposed increased oversight.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 14, 2022

“[Arizona has] a fantastic state government, a Medicaid program that truly aims to support families with intermediaries that share that vision, and a demographic that needs our services,” Jackson told Hospice News in an email. Choice entered the home health market in 2012 and stepped into hospice in 2018. As of 2019, the U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 23, 2024

These patient populations had less hospice access and utilization of pain medications such as opioids when approaching the end of life, researchers found. Black or Latino patients in socially vulnerable areas were less likely to utilize hospice than white patients, and there’s a compounding effect on end-of-life pain management.”

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Utah-headquartered Canyon Home Care & Hospice has acquired Arizona-based internal medicine practice Thomas G. Established in 2012, Canyon’s service region stretches across locations in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Nevada. Arizona ranks third in the nation in hospice utilization. Dallman, M.D., The Thomas G. “We

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NHPCO

JUNE 13, 2024

For Immediate Release PHOTO LINK June 13, 2024 (Alexandria, VA) – More than 100 hospice and palliative care advocates from across the country met with over 150 congressional offices this week to discuss key legislative and regulatory priorities for ensuring and expanding access to hospice and palliative care.

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High Peaks Hospice

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Ann Merkel and some of the group of original High Peaks Hospice founders gathered to create a video to document the story of High Peaks Hospice’s beginnings. Ann Merkel grew up in New Haven, Connecticut where the first hospice in the United States started in 1974. In 1982 Medicare authorized reimbursement for hospice care.

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Pallimed

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

This unexpectedly and undesirably increased health insurers’ medication costs, including Medicare and Medicaid (22). Competing Interests : Dr. Kollas recently served as Secretary on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM). Anderson Cancer Center Orlando.

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1-800-HOSPICE

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

Hospice sends nurses, aides, and other caregivers to the homes of patients with advanced, terminal illnesses. Expert consensus holds that people should receive hospice for three to six months. families, time in hospice falls short of recommendations. families, time in hospice falls short of recommendations.

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Hospice Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Direct Data Entry (DDE) access is a company’s revenue lifeline: without it, hospices cannot comply with NOE filing requirements or submit claims for payment. Every hospice has DDE login rights, but many fail to recognize (and take due care to avoid) the serious hidden pitfalls that are found in this system. Best Practices.

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Rehab Realities by Renee Kinder

MAY 26, 2022

This will be either a patient control number (found at form locator 03a on the UB-04 claim form) or a medical record number (found at form locator 03b on the UB-04 claim form) for a traditional Medicare Part A Fee-for-Service patient who received services from July 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2021 (“from” or “through” dates on a paid claim).

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GeriPal

MARCH 7, 2024

We also invited Beth Klint to speak about the doula’s role within a traditional hospice organization. Alex: We’re delighted to welcome Beth Klint who is executive director of Goodwin Hospice and is joining us from the DC, Northern Virginia area along with Jane. Hospice volunteers do lots of things. Why Beth?

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Hospice News

JUNE 23, 2022

Private equity firms are pouring investment dollars into hospices at a record pace. Despite a cool down in the hospice mergers and acquisitions market during the first quarter of 2022, private equity firms have stayed aggressive on deals. Private equity investors are likely to stay bullish on hospice.

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Hospice News

MAY 13, 2022

based hospice provider Bluegrass Care Navigators has named Stephanie Greene as its new chief operating officer of clinical services. She succeeds Cassie Mitchell, who left the organization to become CEO of Colorado-based HopeWest Hospice. Hospice Maui appoints new CEO . She was previously the clinical director at Hospice Maui.

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