Hospice News

OCTOBER 13, 2023

Implementation of the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in has been challenging for both payers and providers, though a recent analysis indicates that it may get easier over time. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) commissioned the RAND Corp. CMS launched the carve-in in 2021.

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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

MARCH 23, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is extending the value-based insurance design demonstration for calendar years 2025 to 2030, including the hospice component. The hospice component of VBID, also called the MA carve-in, launched in 2021 and was originally slated to complete after four years.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 12, 2024

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has voted to recommend a freeze on hospice payment increases starting in 2025. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The 2021 aggregated Medicare hospice margin was 13.3%, according to MedPAC.

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Hospice News

APRIL 29, 2022

The Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in has been the focus of much attention among providers, and many are watching closely for the demonstration’s outcomes. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the MCCM in 2016 to explore the idea of allowing hospice patients to receive concurrent curative care.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 3, 2024

Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility. NuHealth was formally known as Nassau Health Care Corp. “By By offering inpatient hospice care at NUMC, we are ensuring all of Nassau County’s residents have access to compassionate end-of-life services regardless of their ability to pay,” said Megan C.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 1, 2024

The data come at a time when hospices are striving to better understand how to improve those groups’ end-of-life trajectories. Technology utilization has gained momentum in health care, including in hospice care delivery. Coupled with the telehealth disparities are inequities pertaining to hospice care.

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Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2023

Meanwhile, Medicare hospice spending is expected to more than double by 2032. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary also project that health care expenditures will represent 19.6% The report, published today in Health Affairs , did not contain hospice-specific data.

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Hospice News

MARCH 15, 2024

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended to Congress a freeze on hospice payment increases starting in 2025. In its annual report to Congress, MedPAC urged policymakers to eliminate hospice base-rate increases for 2025. The 2021 aggregated Medicare hospice margin was 13.3%, according to MedPAC.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

The soon-to-be-implemented hospice Special Focus Program (SFP) from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) could produce misinformation that could interfere with access to care. It might make them even fearful about hospice care, which is the last thing we want to see happen.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

Hospices’ public outreach efforts have evolved in recent years, with providers finding new strategies to dispel myths that have long impeded access to care. Nearly half, or 49.1%, of all Medicare decedents utilized hospice services in 2022, reported the National Alliance for Care at Home.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Health plan participation in the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID) will fall in 2024. For calendar year 2024, 13 Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) will participate in the program’s hospice component, providing coverage through 78 health plans in 19 states. million in 2023.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

The state of hospice and palliative care markets. In 2021, hospice was a $23 billion industry that made up roughly 20% of the overall U.S. health care market, according to a report that Bank of America (BofA) Global Research shared with Hospice News.

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Hospice News

MARCH 14, 2024

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). Social worker visits in the last days of life also rose to 9% in 2021, up from 7% in 2020.

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Social worker 2017 Registered Nurse Hospice 290

Hospice News

MAY 25, 2023

Massachusetts-based Advanced Home Care has acquired Dignity Hospice Care for an undisclosed amount. The transaction follows Advanced Home Care’s acquisition of Dignity Home Care late last year. The buyer company’s CEO Art Kalenjian will now take the helm at Dignity Hospice. Census Bureau projections.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 15, 2024

The post-Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in landscape could include wider value-based reimbursement avenues in the hospice space, leading providers to pivot into MA payer relationships. The forthcoming end of the hospice component of the value-based insurance design (VBID) demonstrative takes effect Dec.

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Hospice News

MARCH 21, 2024

Members of Congress are raising questions about the continued Medicare certification for new hospices in areas rife with fraud. Some of these providers engaged in referral kickback schemes, enrolled patients who were not eligible for hospice and lied to them about being terminally ill. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.)

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Over time, Medicare Advantage plans will likely have a greater presence as hospice payers, and now is the time for providers to build relationships those organizations. Originally slated to end in 2024, CMS recently extended the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID) to 2023. SCAN is a $4.3

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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. As a community, we are profoundly disappointed with this decision.”

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 9, 2022

The hospice component of the value-based insurance design (VBID) model will begin its third year on Jan. Often called the MA hospice carve-in , the voluntary demonstration is designed to assess payer and provider performance related to hospice within Medicare Advantage (MA). We need to be in-network.”.

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Hospice News

MAY 17, 2024

The court also ordered Akula to repay $42 million in fraudulent Medicare billing claims made between January 2013 and December 2019, which totaled roughly $84 million during that six-year span. The charges included fraudulent claims for physician services and home visits, as well as manipulation of Medicare billing codes.

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Hospice News

JULY 10, 2024

The JV, branded as Adena Home Health and Hospice, will launch next month, providing care to seriously and terminally ill patients in south central and southern Ohio. This is an exciting and significant step forward in our home health and hospice care delivery,” said Adena Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Shaheed Koury, in a statement.

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Hospice End-of-life care Medicare 2021 278

Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has not responded to congressional concerns about the hospice Special Focus Program (SFP). Set for 2025 implementation, the SFP promises to identify hospices delivering poor quality care and target them for improvement remedies.

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Hospice News

MAY 7, 2024

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. Thus far, California is the only state to take action on the issue, including a moratorium on hospice licensing.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 3, 2023

It would have prohibited the establishment of for-profit hospices in New York state and forbid current for-profit operators from increasing capacity. . Data suggest that hospice care is underutilized in New York compared to other states, straining other elements of the health care system,” Hochul wrote in her veto.

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Hospice News

APRIL 8, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2025 proposed hospice rule contained requests for information (RFIs) that could signal changes in the agency’s thinking on key issues. Through RFIs, CMS tries to take the pulse of providers’ positions on certain questions that could impact the Medicare Hospice Benefit.

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Hospice News

MARCH 29, 2023

“For a hospice administrator or executive, you really have to be very focused on your length of stay data,” Young told Hospice News in a recent Elevate podcast episode. Are you in an outlier scenario with your data that Medicare contractors are looking at? Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S.

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Hospice News

APRIL 26, 2023

. “Our new Manhattan branch will headquarter more local staff within the communities they are already serving, allowing us to increase access and convenience to hospice care where there is great need.” A little more than 31,000 Medicare patients in Kansas elected hospice in 2021, according to the U.S.

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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. Census Bureau.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

The partnership will allow for better care transitions among chronic and seriously ill patients, according to Compassus CEO Mike Asselta. “We Compassus provides home health, home infusion, palliative and hospice care across 30 states. Compassus’ 7,000 employees care for more than 120,000 patients annually.

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Hospice News

MARCH 13, 2023

OIG alleged in a recent report that Summit Hospice violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting claims to Medicare and Medicaid for non-covered hospice services. HHS-OIG will continue to work with our federal and state partners to ensure that hospice providers are giving their patients the care and comfort they need.”

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Hospice News

JUNE 22, 2023

SEIU analyzed Medicare claims data showing that the average hospice transfer rate among HCA hospital discharges was nearly 40% above the national average in 2021 and represented a 50% growth rate over four years. During the past several years, HCA has closed a number of home health and hospice acquisitions. More than 1.72

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Hospice News

APRIL 21, 2023

Croix Hospice cares for over 4,000 patients from more than 60 locations in 10 Midwestern states. “Health care providers have been closing their doors across rural America, and Iowa is no exception,” Kim Kirschbaum, St. .” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). All told St. Census Bureau reported.

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2024

Bristol Hospice has acquired Mississippi-based Mid-Delta Hospice, a move that marked its entry into the state. The decision to launch services in a new state came with growing recognition around rising demand for home health and hospice care, according to Bristol Hospice CEO and President Alex Mauricio.

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Hospice News

JUNE 2, 2023

Hosparus Health Hosparus Health Hosparus CEO David Cook Baptist Health Deaconess Hospice launched in 1993, initially branded as Green River Hospice. In 2021, more than 22,000 Medicare decedents elected hospice care in Kentucky. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Hospice News

AUGUST 21, 2023

Evolving network adequacy requirements within the value-based insurance design (VBID) model demonstration have some hospices concerned that Medicare Advantage payers may have narrowed views on reimbursement and access. And that’s a big concern when it comes to hospice care.” This year the U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 17, 2024

Among the signatories were 63 hospice and palliative care providers across the country, 14 state hospice and palliative associations, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and the health care technology company Axxess.

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