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California Physician Sentenced to 24 Months for $3.2M Hospice Fraud

Hospice News

A Ventura County, California, physician has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for Medicare fraud for medically unnecessary hospice services. In total, approximately $3,917,946 in fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare, of which a total of approximately $3,289,889 was paid. and Saint Mariam Hospice Inc.

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Blue Sky Hospice Medical Director Convicted of $2.8M Hospice Fraud

Hospice News

“Thropay fraudulently certified Medicare patients of Blue Sky as having terminal illnesses that the patients did not have so that Blue Sky Hospice could bill Medicare for hospice services,” a statement by the U.S. Justice Department indicated. “In

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How Four Questions Can Reduce Costs, Boost Hospice Utilization

Hospice News

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation ran the project between 2011 and 2015 at 32 participating hospitals and health systems. It’s on all our minds, the Medicare Advantage carve-in and how we are going to weather whatever changes come,” Irhig told Hospice News. “If

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MedPAC to Push for 20% Cut to Hospice Aggregate Payment Cap

Hospice News

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is poised to recommend that the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reduce the aggregate cap for hospice payments by 20% in 2024. In 2015, the commission reported that 12.5% To date, Congress has not implemented these reductions. “The During 2020, about 18.6%

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Hospice of the Western Reserve Completes Affiliation With Hospice of North Central Ohio

Hospice News

Western Reserve merged with the Hospice of Medina County in 2015, and the combined organization continues to offer services under both brands. About 80,150 Medicare decedents in Ohio utilized hospice services in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Rural Providers Weigh Telehealth Investment Against Regulatory Uncertainty

Hospice News

For starters, rural regions are less likely to have a Medicare-certified hospice than urban counties. Fratkin founded palliative care provider ResolutionCare in 2015. Hospice and palliative care providers have wrangled for decades with obstacles that complicate access to rural patients and make their care more expensive.

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How the Value in Health Care Act Could Change Palliative Care Payment

Hospice News

The bill builds upon the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015, designed to speed transitions to patient-centered, value-based care. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) develop more transparent financial benchmarks that account for regional variations in health care spending, Pittman added.