Hospice News

DECEMBER 19, 2022

In 2022, the hospice community laid the groundwork for a transformational 2023. During late 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed new approaches for enforcing hospice regulations that will become effective on Jan.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

The long term care company Mission Health Services has acquired Utah-based Angel’s Crossing Home Hospice. The deal marks Mission’s first foray into the hospice space. About 15,900 Medicare decedents in Utah elected hospice in 2022, a rate of slightly more than 59%. Financial terms were undisclosed.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

Eden Health of Northern Nevada, dba Eden Hospice, has acquired A Plus Hospice Care in its home state. Through the transaction, A Plus Hospice Care patients will have access to Eden Health’s additional services, including home health, home care and palliative care. Financial terms were undisclosed. About 17.4% of Nevada’s 3.1

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Though hospice deal volume dipped in 2022 compared to previous years, five particular transactions could paint a larger picture of where investors see value in the space. These interesting, unusual or groundbreaking deals could signal what’s to come in 2023 and help shape the hospice market’s long-term future. s (NYSE: HUM) $2.8

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Arizona-based MD Home Health has expanded its business lines to include in-clinic care, virtual care and a hospice program. Launching our hospice services is part of a broader omnichannel strategy to pivot from a traditional home health agency to one that offers more services to address the needs of Phoenix-area residents,” David P.

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Hospice News

JUNE 29, 2022

Congressional legislators are casting doubts on regulatory oversight of Medicare Advantage plans over concerns about spending, claims denials, and end-of-life care. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), and the Government Accountability Office.

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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

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Aetna, a subsidiary of CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), is leveraging a series of new benefits that, coupled with existing palliative care programs and ongoing hospice payment demonstrations, promise to keep patients in their homes and out of facilities. Patients can access palliative care through a number of inroads.

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Hospice News

MAY 3, 2023

Federal regulators are cracking down on the private insurers that administer Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. In 2022, 147 plans offered home-based palliative care across 17 states, a 7% increase in the number of plans compared to the prior year. based research and consulting firm ATI Advisory. trillion and reported total profits of $69.3

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Hospice News

JUNE 11, 2024

Federal regulators should increase scrutiny of private equity activity in the hospice space, according to the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). We wish to emphasize that it is not NPHI’s position to oppose all PE associated activity in the hospice market,” the organization indicated in its comments.

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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

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 11, 2024

Texas-based New Day Healthcare LLC on Monday announced its acquisition of Intrepid USA’s hospice operations in Missouri and in its home state. The deal includes Intrepid’s hospice assets in Joplin and Springfield, Missouri, as well as its locations in Beaumont, Texas. Hospice utilization rates hovered at 49.1% Census Bureau.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

NYSE: EHAB) expects consistent hospice growth even as it contends with payer and reimbursement headwinds for its home health business. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s proposed 2025 payment rule. Meanwhile, Enhabit’s hospice segment continues to grow sequentially. “We’re Enhabit Inc. rate cut from the U.S.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 26, 2024

Hospice and palliative care provider VIA Health has long invested in disease-specific programs. The numbers have continued to grow in terms of building these quality indicators to ensure that heart failure patients get adequate and high-value, quality end-of-life care in their trajectory and get enrolled in hospice and palliative care.”

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 22, 2024

Errors or other inconsistencies with the payment cap can have significant consequences for providers, and sales and marketing staff can help hospices achieve a healthy balance. The cap is designed to prevent overuse of hospice, put controls on Medicare spending and foster greater access to care among patients.

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Hospice News

APRIL 15, 2024

Though the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in is going away at the end of this year, those operators still have a role to play in value-based care. The carve-in, formally known as the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID), will expire on Dec. Hospice care saves Medicare roughly $3.5

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Hospice News

AUGUST 1, 2024

Hospice of the Western Reserve has completed its affiliation with Hospice of North Central Ohio (HNCO), expanding its geographic presence in the Buckeye state. The two hospice providers in February announced the affiliation after signing a letter of intent to enter a Management Services Agreement. Photo by Pixelate Photography.

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Hospice News

MAY 9, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on continuing evidence of hospice fraud and quality issues. We must urgently address the bad actors who are abusing the hospice benefit and harming patients and families,” the legislators wrote in the letter. Members of Congress are demanding answers from the U.S.

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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. The RAND analysis released this week covers the calendar year 2022.

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Hospice News

JULY 12, 2024

Unity Hospice and Palliative Care has signed an agreement to become part of Illinois-based Northwestern Medicine’s Post-Acute Network (PAN). The agreement establishes the hospice as a preferred provider for referrals from the health system, which is affiliated with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. “We million, up from 1.9

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

Plano, Texas-based Heart to Heart Hospice will soon add a third location to its geographic footprint in Oklahoma. The de novo will open this fall, located in Durant, Oklahoma, and serve hospice patients and their families across 11 surrounding counties. Demographics are driving demand for hospice in Oklahoma. Census Bureau.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Providers see sustainability and expanded service growth as main draws to participating in the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recent webinar. On the hospice side, we conducted interviews of both in- and out-of-network hospices in VBID.

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Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2023

annually between 2022 and 2031, reaching $7.1 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% ” In 2022, CMS paid $23.9 and Medicaid by 3.2%.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 8, 2024

Combined, the two organizations provide hospice and palliative care to more than 7,000 patients annually across Brevard, Martin, St. The deal includes Treasure Coast Hospice, which the health system established in 1982. Francis Reflections operates two general inpatient hospice care units in Melbourne and Titusville, Florida.

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Hospice News

MARCH 8, 2024

Tightened regulation in the hospice space has led to longer, more stringent diligence processes when it comes to buying and selling provider companies. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has honed in on hospice program integrity through a number of new regulations, including some in the agency’s 2024 hospice final rule.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Hospice operators in 2024 are navigating a rapidly transforming environment. The prior three years have laid the groundwork for change, particularly in the regulatory space as well as gradual migration towards value-based reimbursement and in tandem, the proliferation of business lines beyond hospice.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

With heightened regulatory scrutiny and dropping utilization, hospices are walking a tightrope when it comes to providing the General Inpatient (GIP) level of care. Though hospices are required to offer all four levels of care, more than half did not provide a single day of GIP during 2022, according to the U.S.

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Hospice News

MAY 8, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should beef up hospice oversight, including addressing overdue surveys. To date, CMS has fully implemented five and partially implemented three of eight provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), though quality issues persist in the hospice space.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 4, 2024

Community Healthcare of Texas CEO Viki Jingle has kept her finger on the pulse of potential hospice fraud occurring in her home state. Van Duyne has been among the legislators who have been most vocal about hospice fraud since the problem began to emerge. They have multiple hospices.

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Hospice News

MARCH 6, 2024

A new legislative package winding its way through Congress could re-allocate hospice funds to other programs. If enacted, it would make adjustments to the hospice payment cap for 2033 that would free up $927 million. The nation’s four largest hospice industry groups have voice opposition to these provisions. for next year.

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Hospice News

JUNE 3, 2022

The Medicare Part A trust fund is still on track to run short of money before the decade is out, but not as quickly as previously anticipated. By 2028, Medicare would have sufficient dollars to cover 90% of Medicare expenses. Hospice expenditures in particular are expected to increase to more than $48.2 population.” ?

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

Colorado-based Emmaus Catholic Hospice has seen both staffing and census volumes swell since launching nearly a year ago. The organization began as a home health agency and added a hospice segment in 2022, according to Vicki Owens, CEO of Emmaus Catholic Hospice, DBA under the nonprofit Dominican Home Health Agency.

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Hospice News

MARCH 26, 2024

Though many expect a hospice M&A rebound in 2024, the scales are tipping in favor of home health companies among buyers. After 2023’s slump, PE firms have been sitting on more than $800 million in dry powder, according to data shared with Hospice News by The Braff Group. But additional data point to a resurgence.

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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. It makes sense.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Wages for hospice clinicians continue to go up amid widespread staff shortages, but they grew at a slower rate in 2023 compared to the prior year. Turnover rates for RNs decreased to 25.53% in 2023, from 29.15% in 2022; LPN turnover was 29.97% in 2023, compared to 31.52% in 2022; HCAs dropped slightly from 29.84% in 2022 to 28.18% in 2023.”

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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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