Hospice News

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Medicare fee-for-service programs made $31.23 billion in improper payments during 2023, though a smaller proportion of those dollars went to hospices than in years prior. Hospices received nearly 5.4% of improper payments from Medicare in 2023, down from 12% in 2022, according to a new report from the U.S.

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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

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Gross margin for the hospice segment fell slightly to 42.9% Hospice results were in part impacted by a -4% decrease in patient admissions and a 0.5% Other factors included rising hospice care delivery costs such as investments in clinical staffing and higher compensation and benefit costs, among others, the company reported.

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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. 1, 2023, meaning that some of the program’s rules will change. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has indicated that hospices should ensure that their billing staff is familiar with the 2023 modifications.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 10, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The ability to demonstrate the value proposition of home health and community-based hospice care to drive quality outcomes and lower costs will be an important part of forming future regulations and reimbursement that foster sustainable growth, Jacobsmeyer indicated.

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Hospice News

MARCH 14, 2025

hospice industry as a whole is projected to bring in roughly $34 billion in revenue during 2024, Jackson indicated. This is a rise from Medicare hospice expenditures that reached $23.7 billion in 2022, Medicare (MedPAC) reported. Hospice care was found to save Medicare approximately $3.5

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 13, 2022

Most hospices are sliding into 2023 between a rock and a hard place, beset by headwinds, labor shortages and questions with no easy answers. Government oversight of hospice providers will tighten during 2023. A coalition of hospice industry organizations recently urged the U.S. Be ready for regulation.

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Hospice News

JULY 13, 2023

This is the first of a two-part service that will detail key findings from recent research on hospice care, featuring numbers that could influence they ways hospices communicate and operate. Hospices’ cost-savings potential A study published in March revealed that hospice saved Medicare roughly $3.5

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Hospice News

AUGUST 26, 2022

Medicare reimbursement is the lifeblood of hospice providers, and a clear understanding of policies like budget neutrality can help elucidate the payment systems that keep their businesses running. The clearest example of how this works was the 2020 rebasing of payments for the four levels of hospice care.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 20, 2022

SCAN Health Plan is among the Medicare Advantage (MA) payers entering the hospice component of the value-based insurance design (VBID) payment demonstration in 2023. The four-year program — often called the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in — launched Jan. Hospice VBID enters its third year in 2023.

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Hospice News

MARCH 21, 2025

Levy recently sat down with Hospice News to discuss the array of regulatory and legislative evolutions on the horizon in hospice care delivery. Can you share your background in hospice and home over the last decade, starting with your most recent role at Amedisys? I was promoted chief government affairs officer in 2023.

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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. Hospice News / Merz Photography Hospice News / Merz Photography Rep. Hospice News photo by Merz Photography.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

If you were to write a book about hospice in 2023, what would you call it? To help answer that question, Hospice News asked the CEOs of eight providers how they would title a book about the state of the field today. Also, more care is going to a home-based environment. Is Medicare Advantage going to be the path?

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

The company expects the program to bring in roughly 25 new health care workers each month in 2023 at an estimated cost of $40 million, which VITAS hopes to offset with increased volume as staffing gains drive up capacity. “We VITAS launched the initiative in an effort to improve timely access to hospice care.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 9, 2024

Among the most significant dealmakers in the hospice space this year was Optum, subsidiary of the insurance and health care giant UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). The company initiated two of the largest hospice and home health transactions in recent memory. billion acquisition of LHC Group in 2023. Optum completed its $5.4

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Hospice News

MARCH 20, 2023

Hospices are blazing trails toward growth, each provider with its own range of strategies. In 2023, the focus for many is to not only expand their core business but to spread further into the care continuum. In this story, Hospice News highlights the growth strategies of several providers.

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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

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). For this year, CMS increased the hospice base rate by 3.1%. set in 2023.

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Hospice News

JUNE 12, 2024

During 2023 alone, national health care spending rose an estimated 7.5%. This reflects broad increases in the use of health care, which is associated with an estimated 93.1% Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), said during a virtual media briefing. Hospice care saves Medicare roughly $3.5

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

This year brought the return of Medicare sequestration, and pandemic-driven disruption in referral streams are lingering. Generally, fewer clinicians has meant fewer patients have been receiving hospice care, according to industry observers and companies’ own reports. The company saw a 10.6%

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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

JUNE 14, 2023

The nation’s total health care spend is expected to swell by 5.4% 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% These data from the U.S.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 20, 2024

Palliative interventions should be integrated into primary care for patients living with symptomatic multiple chronic conditions (MCC), a recent consensus paper indicated. primary care patient population, according to the U.S. adults have MCC, including 80% of Medicare beneficiaries. health care expenditures. “The

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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

JUNE 14, 2023

Many of these patients could benefit from receiving hospice care sooner and longer, but regulatory requirements can make that a challenging feat for providers, she said. They could still benefit from hospice services earlier in their disease course, and for a much longer time.” A projected 12.7

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

Like hospice, the nation’s palliative care market is also anticipated to boom in coming years. Palliative care is among the next market areas to hit substantial growth, according to BofA research. palliative care market will reach $78.50 billion by 2023, a climb from $49.42 Forces pushing markets ahead.

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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

JUNE 5, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced a series of new regulations to combat fraud during the past two years. As of August 2023, CMS personnel had appeared at 7,000 locations, with plans to visit every hospice site in the country, according to a blog post by two CMS officials.

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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

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

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.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 2, 2024

Last month NAHC and NHPCO inked a deal completing their affiliation after announcing in March 2023 that they were considering some type of collaboration. Recent advocacy efforts have included a shared focus of improving program integrity within the Medicare Hospice Benefit as concerns of fraudulent activity heat up in the industry.

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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

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

OCTOBER 24, 2024

Hospice News spoke with c-suite executives who have recently stepped into their roles to learn more about what led them to the space and their top priorities. Regulatory challenges are among hospice leaders’ most significant concerns. There’s a lot of unknown changes in Medicare. Littlefield told Hospice News.

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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

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

These regions have seen a swarm of new hospices emerging and receiving federal funding. In some cases, dozens of new operators were billing Medicare from the same location without a corresponding increase in eligible patient populations. Multiple reports of unethical or illegal practices have surfaced, particularly among new companies.

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