Hospice News

MARCH 26, 2025

Though the numbers are still relatively low, spending on early palliative care rose between 2010 and 2019 for patients with advanced cancers, a recent study found. The increase was associated with earlier palliative care referrals and providers having a hospice and palliative specialist on staff.

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Hospice News

MAY 27, 2022

Regulators have been zeroing in on longer lengths of stay in hospice, but patients with dementia may be caught in the crossfire. . Two policy changes have corresponded with reductions in hospice enrollment among dementia patients, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found.

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Hospice News

JULY 13, 2022

More than a dozen hospice advocacy groups have called on congressional leadership to intervene in a proposed 2.7% bump in Medicare payments, which they say is insufficient in light of COVID-19 and staffing headwinds. CMS in April released the 2023 proposed payment rule for hospice providers, including the 2.7%

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Hospice News

AUGUST 17, 2022

Medicare claims for unrelated services creates serious financial and legal risks for hospice providers — even if they are not the ones who sent the bill. During recent years, payouts for non-hospice services provided to Medicare beneficiaries have tipped into the billions. These “unrelated” payments have been soaring.

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Hospice News

MARCH 3, 2023

The families of patients who received care from nonprofit hospices give their providers higher marks on quality than those who went with for-profits, a RAND Corp. These findings are particularly pressing given the striking growth of for-profit hospices, which have profit incentives that have been shown to affect how they care for patients.”

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Hospice News

MARCH 4, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will end the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID) as of Dec. Often called the “hospice carve-in,” the program was designed to test coverage of hospice care through Medicare Advantage, in addition to some coverage of palliative care and transitional care.

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Hospice News

APRIL 3, 2025

AccentCare is primed for further hospice growth, with both health system joint ventures and de novo activity as twin cornerstones of its strategy. Dallas-headquartered AccentCare provides hospice, home health, personal and palliative care across 32 states and in the District of Columbia.

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Hospice News

JULY 3, 2023

The two lawmakers, along with others, also brought forth a second bill designed to ensure that hospice patients who need blood transfusions can receive them. Rosen and Murkowski, initially tried to pass the palliative care training bill in 2019, and then again 2021. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) Established in 1972, NHSC is part of the U.S.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized its 2024 home health rule, including the implementation of a hospice Special Focus Program (SFP). The rule also finalizes the proposed “36-month”rule for hospice providers.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 18, 2022

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reiterated that the agency will not allow hospices to recertify patients after the COVID-19 public health emergency expires. . Face-to-face encounters for purposes of patient recertification for the Medicare hospice benefit can now be conducted via telehealth (i.e.,

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 10, 2024

Two individuals in California have been arrested for their roles in a $54 million scheme to defraud Medicare for hospice and diagnostic testing. From March 2019 to August 2024, these companies allegedly submitted more than $54 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for services that were never provided and not needed.

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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

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

OCTOBER 10, 2024

Cameron Muir has been named as the new CMO of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). His new title signals the organization’s strategic plans to reshape hospice care delivery through patient-centered, innovative approaches, according to NPHI CEO Tom Koutsoumpas.

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Hospice News

JULY 26, 2024

A hospice physician in California is facing up to a decade in prison after pleading guilty for their involvement in a kickback fraud scheme that bilked Medicare of nearly $30 million. Contreras served as a physician for two Pasadena-based providers, Saint Mariam Hospice Inc. and Arcadia Hospice Provider Inc.

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2022

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, calling for a payment model demonstration designed to support greater access to palliative care. Many hospices are currently participating in other CMMI programs, including the value-based insurance design demonstration (Medicare Advantage carve-in.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been gradually implementing changes to the hospice survey process and enforcement remedies, including civil monetary penalties in some instances. The monetary penalties were among seven enforcement remedies introduced through the HOSPICE Act and subsequent CMS rules.

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Hospice News

MARCH 24, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) decision to extend the value-based insurance design (VBID) model through 2030: patients’ social needs, health equity and improved care coordination. This includes the hospice benefit component, often called the Medicare Advantage carve-in, CMS confirmed.

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Hospice News

APRIL 22, 2024

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed rule designed to strengthen oversight of those institutions. Three such organizations currently have deeming authority for hospices, The Joint Commission, the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) and Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP).

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 1, 2022

Gavin Newsom (D) recently approved legislation that expands upon last years’ moves to strengthen hospice oversight in the state, among other enforcement actions. The bills — Senate Bill 664 and Assembly Bill 1280 — followed a Los Angeles Times investigation into alleged misconduct among hospice providers statewide. California Gov.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 14, 2022

trillion in 2021, according to a new analysis from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). share in 2019. Published annually at the end of the year, the analysis does not specifically call out hospice expenditures. in 2020, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

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Hospice News

APRIL 7, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking answers from the hospice community — including some around utilization patterns and non-hospice spending. The recently proposed 2024 hospice payment rule contained a 2.8% of hospice days and 93.7% As many as 72.2% As many as 72.2%

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Hospice News

JULY 21, 2023

As federal regulators intensify their focus on hospices, operators may begin seeing an influx of Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) activity. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with RACs to conduct post-payment reviews designed to recover any funds that may have been overspent.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 21, 2023

The hospice and senior care provider Helios Care is partnering with the integrated health system Bassett Healthcare Network to bring more extensive access to hospice and palliative care to patients in central New York. Formerly known as Catskills Area Hospice and Palliative Care, the organization rebranded as Helios in 2019.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 16, 2022

(NASDAQ: PNTG) has purchased California-based Ardent Hospice and Palliative Care in the San Diego area for an undisclosed amount. Ardent, which also offers home health care, serves between 20 and 50 hospice patients per day, according to National Hospice Locator. The company received its Medicare certification in 2013. “We

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

The four largest hospice industry organizations are urging congressional lawmakers to mandate changes to the Special Focus Program (SFP) currently set to begin in 2024. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week issued its 2024 home health payment rule , which contained several hospice provisions.

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Hospice News

JULY 12, 2024

The forthcoming Hospice Care Accountability, Reform and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act from U.S. Blumenauer announced the bill in June at the Hospice News Elevate conference in Washington D.C. There’s evidence that people who take advantage of hospice care delivered properly, actually have a higher quality of life.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 22, 2022

The hospice chaplain shortage is reaching a tipping point. As they work to recruit and retain their chaplain labor force, hospices are contending with a barrage of issues that also can impact patient access. More than 7,768 chaplains were employed by hospices nationwide in 2019, according to the Zippia report.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

Patients with dementia are less likely to receive hospice in their last month of life than those who have other diagnoses, 12.5% The Medicare Hospice Benefit initially was designed around the needs of cancer patients, but now the number of patients with other diagnoses is growing — some with less predictable disease patterns.

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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. In 2019, LifeTouch was in the red for a similar amount.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

A federal judge has sentenced Jesus Virlar-Cadena, formerly a medical director for the Texas-based hospice company Merida Group, to 50 months in prison for his role in a $152 million scheme. The Texas Medical Board suspended his medical license in 2019, when he pleaded guilty to the fraud charges.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

While the hospice community has generally embraced the concept of a Special Focus Program (SFP) to address quality concerns, some are troubled by the government’ methodology for identifying providers. About a quarter of them don’t report HCI data,” Atkins told Hospice News. “A

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Hospice News

AUGUST 12, 2022

million following reports by hospice employees who cared for their residents. Department of Justice alleged that the Indiana-based company billed Medicare separately for services that should have been covered by the hospice benefit. The hospice workers filed a qui tam complaint against ASC in the U. CMS as of Oct.

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Hospice News

MARCH 14, 2024

Hospices, in aggregate, are showing improvement on the quality measure for visits in the last days of life. In Calendar Year 2021, the share of hospice care days with nurse visits in the last seven days of life rose to 63%, up from 62% year over year, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

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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

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The four lawmakers contend that the SFP, as currently designed, would not adequately identify poor performing hospices in need of the program. Nearly 40% of hospices have not been surveyed within the three year timeframe, the agency reported.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 22, 2024

Hospice transactions are facing a new world of challenges during a time when M&A activity is projected to ramp up after recent lulls. More founders who began their organizations when the Medicare Hospice Benefit was established in the 1980s are reaching retirement.

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