Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2023

Years after it was first introduced, hospice leaders are calling on Congress to move forward legislation that would bolster their dwindling workforce. The most significant bill in recent years is the Palliative Care and Hospice Education Training Act (PCHETA), which has come before Congress time and again but has not yet been passed.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Canon Healthcare was a New Orleans-based hospice provider that also served the Baton Rouge and Covington, Louisiana, markets, as well as parts of Mississippi. Between 2013 and 2016, the company billed Medicare for $62 million and received $47 million in payments, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

At Mount Sinai we’re really good at creating new models and proving they work to improve care for the sickest patients with serious illness,” Goldstein told Hospice News during the Palliative Care Executive Webinar Series. These hospice-based programs are contending with the same pressures from limited reimbursement and labor headwinds.

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Hospice News

MARCH 27, 2023

Hospice providers in facility-based settings may be underutilizing Medicare’s service intensity add-on (SIA). Researchers analyzed 2020 claims data to identify associations between SIA utilization and hospice Medicare beneficiaries’ characteristics such as site of service, level of care and length of stay, among others.

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Hospice News

MARCH 27, 2024

Many hospices may be unprepared to cope with a large-scale disaster or a future pandemic. In 2017, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded a Condition of Participation pertaining to disaster preparedness planning. Last year, The Joint Commission implemented similar requirements for hospices.

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Hospice News

MAY 1, 2024

The impending demise of the hospice component of U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ value-based insurance design (VBID) model has largely been met with a sense of relief by providers as they plan new initiatives for palliative care in 2025.

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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

MAY 1, 2023

On June 1, LifeTouch Hospice will merge with Arkansas Hospice. Both hospices are owned and operated by the SHARE Foundation, a nonprofit, faith-based organization. The hospice last year served 430 patients in a five-county region of Arkansas. The organization finished 2017 with a net income of slightly more than $107,000.

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Hospice News

APRIL 7, 2023

Kristal Glover-Wing, the former owner of Louisiana-based Angel Care Hospice, has been found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud. Justice Department, Angel Care enrolled 24 patients in hospice between 2009 through 2017 who did not meet Medicare eligibility requirements.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Hospice providers will be looking to Congress in 2024 to address issues related to program integrity, quality improvement and industry-wide workforce pressures. As legislative efforts develop, hospices may want to focus their attention on a few key legislators. We don’t have confidence in the algorithm that they proposed.

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Hospice News

MAY 16, 2022

To successfully negotiate value-based contracts, hospices will need to educate payers about the value of palliative care, according to J. chief innovation officer of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). Palliative care packs a small but meaningful punch in the value-based payment arena. .

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Hospice News

APRIL 20, 2022

Bristol Hospice has acquired Hospice Select in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for an undisclosed sum. Bristol is a large multi-regional player that has grown seven times larger since private equity firm Webster Equity Partners purchased the company in 2017. Demographics are driving demand for hospice in Texas.

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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

MARCH 29, 2023

Though evidence shows that longer hospice stays reduce costs, providers are still walking a regulatory tightrope. On one hand, longer hospice stays can lead to improved patient and family satisfaction and greater cost saving opportunities. Are you in an outlier scenario with your data that Medicare contractors are looking at?

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Hospice News

JUNE 27, 2024

Hospices have been advocating for lawmakers and regulators to take action on curbing fraud, supporting veterans and bolstering the health care workforce. Battling fraud Reports of unethical or illegal practices have surged, particularly among hundreds of newly certified hospices in California, Texas, Nevada and Arizona. Recently Rep.

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Hospice News

JULY 16, 2024

The Pennsylvania state Senate has approved a bill proposing to expand staffing requirements around death proclamations to include a wider breadth of hospice clinicians. If enacted, the legislation would allow licensed practical nurses (LPNs) providing hospice care to make death pronouncements.

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Hospice News

APRIL 17, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) review and appeals process, according to CEO Greg Hagfors. The case has significance for hospice providers nationwide as CMS and its contractors continue to ramp up audits. OIG, on behalf of CMS, informed the hospice that it would be audited in a May 2018 letter.

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Hospice News

JULY 23, 2024

As dementia-related illnesses continue to rise among hospice patients, caregivers and providers alike are working judiciously to best find ways to support patients and their families in navigating these new diagnoses. The post Why Palliative Care Providers Are Adopting the GUIDE Model appeared first on Hospice News.

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Hospice News

APRIL 4, 2024

Rural-based hospice providers face a range of challenges to improve access among their underserved patient populations. We hear from countless community providers and state association leaders that rural hospices are in financial trouble,” Hoover wrote in a recent letter to the U.S. “We

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Hospice News

JANUARY 29, 2024

Palliative care in general can reduce health care costs by more than $4,000 per patient, according to a July 2017 study in Health Affairs. Countering this however, is the need for greater education for all stakeholders on the nature of these services and how they are distinct from hospice. But they do represent a glimmer of hope.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

About 72% of respondents to a National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) survey said they do not believe that the U.S. Though 74% expressed a positive view of hospice care, only 31% said they trusted the health care system as a whole. health care system does a good job of caring for the aging population.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 30, 2023

Many hospice providers rely on Medicare Advantage (MA) reimbursement to support palliative care, PACE and social determinants programs, among others. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) laid out its policy for validating MA plans’ risk adjustment data, which the agency uses to calculate capitation rates.

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Hospice News

JUNE 24, 2022

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) in 2017 proposed that the U.S. Development of such a model has been a priority for the hospice community for several years. This includes numerous calls for dedicated community-based palliative care benefit within Medicare. Additionally, the U.S.

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Hospice News

MAY 4, 2023

Edo Banach, former president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), has stepped into a new role as partner at Manatt Health, a division of the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. Prior to joining the Los Angeles-based law practice, Banach was at the helm at NHPCO since 2017.

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Hospice News

JUNE 17, 2022

One of the defining principles of hospice care is honoring the wishes of terminally ill patients. This can prevent or delay hospice care for individuals who chose to receive it. . But now we recognize that people can make a choice,” Thaddeus Pope, professor at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, told Hospice News. “It’s

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Hospice News

AUGUST 17, 2022

Stretching back more than a decade, a rising number of states have passed laws designed to raise awareness of hospice and palliative care, but to date, few if any have achieved measurable results. Some states offer hospice- and palliative care-themed license plates or designate an official Hospice and Palliative Care Awareness Month.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 6, 2022

The hospice, palliative care, and home health network Care Synergy has become the national center for the Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) program, developed by Johns Hopkins University. Now, the program is poised for further growth, Szanton told Hospice News. Medicare is thinking about it.

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Hospice News

JUNE 16, 2022

More hospitals and health systems are stepping into the home-based hospice space, often seeing joint ventures as a promising route to a return on their investment. You’re seeing different types of transactions taking place in hospice and home health,” Mark Kulik, managing director at M&A advisory firm The Braff Group, told Hospice News.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 31, 2024

Palliative care, pediatric end-of-life care and end-of-life doula (EOLD) services are top of mind for hospices that are diversifying their services in 2024. There’s going to be so much change around value-based care coming in some way, shape or form for hospices,” Kudner told Hospice News. But it goes both ways.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 1, 2023

NASDAQ: ADUS) has completed the acquisition of the home health, hospice, and private-duty company Tennessee Quality Care for an undisclosed amount. With this transaction, we will also be able to expand our home health and hospice services into nine additional counties as we look ahead to de novo locations in the future.”

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Hospice News

JUNE 6, 2023

Atlantic General Hospital in Maryland saw costs fall by almost a third after implementing a similar program, according to a 2017 report in Mathematica Policy Research. Another caregiving agency in the area serves patients on Medicaid or Medicare, but their availability is limited.

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Hospice News

MAY 20, 2024

There are countless poor experiences for those that don’t discuss these end-of-life wishes ahead of time,” Kwan told Hospice News. It also helps increase the median length of stays on hospice.” of 955, 777 Medicare decedents who died between 2017 and 2018 utilized these services, a JAMA Health Forum study found.

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Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2024

of 955, 777 Medicare decedents who died between 2017 and 2018 utilized these services, a JAMA Health Forum study found. The post Koda Health Secures New Investments in Seed+ Funding Round appeared first on Hospice News. Census Bureau. Only 10.9%

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Hospice News

MAY 18, 2022

I would argue there’s been more acuity being moved into the home, and I suspect that genie won’t go back in the bottle,” WellSky CEO Bill Miller told Hospice News. “So Hospice providers in particular are using analytics to identify patients in need of end-of-life or palliative care services further upstream.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 2, 2024

Most recent data available show that 41 states have adopted some type of laws permitting the use of “investigational drugs” since the passing of the Right to Try Act of 2017 , as has Congress. This can result in high costs that are not covered by traditional palliative care payment avenues in the Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement system.

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Hospice News

APRIL 8, 2024

Currently, more than 10,000 individuals become Medicare-eligible each day, a trend expected to last for several more years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Palliative care in general can reduce health care costs by more than $4,000 per patient, according to a July 2017 study in Health Affairs.

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GeriPal

JUNE 30, 2022

She went to an inpatient hospice and they kept her comfortable for a couple of weeks and she passed away. And we know that a third of Medicare beneficiaries undergo surgery in the last year of life with 18% of those occurring in the last month of life. They’re all Medicare beneficiaries. And it was the right thing to do.

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