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CMS to Allow Concurrent Hospice Care During VBID Extension

Hospice News

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will allow hospice patients to receive concurrent care through the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in, and will permit health plans to further restrict utilization of out-of-network providers. But today’s update from CMS contained another critical change from prior years.

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Hospice CARE Act Would Create Reimbursement for High-Acuity Hospice Services

Hospice News

Earl Blumenaur (D-Oregon) and announced in June at the Hospice News Elevate conference, the bill proposed massive reimbursement and regulatory changes to the Medicare Hospice Benefit. If enacted, the bill proposes to reimburse for those services at 200% of the routine home care rate for Fiscal Year 2026. 1, 2026 through Sep.

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A Decade of Palliative Telehealth Utilization Shows Quality Improvement

Hospice News

Among the temporary flexibilities set to end includes the ability for all Medicare patients to receive telehealth services in their home, as well as the waiver of geographic restrictions around where and how non-behavioral health services can be delivered.

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Congress Mulls Bill to Extend Recertifications by Telehealth

Hospice News

A bill currently before Congress would extend through 2026 regulatory flexibilities related to telehealth, including the ability to recertify patients for hospice care. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), they would not be able to recertify via telehealth. It also includes some exceptions. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.)

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Study: Outpatients Prefer Palliative Telehealth over Clinic Visits

Hospice News

House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to markup a new bill that would extend those flexibilities through the end of 2026. However, those flexibilities are currently slated to expire on Dec. 31, 2024, leaving those providers in limbo over whether or not they can continue those services. This week, the U.S.

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BoldAge PACE Launches New Center to Address ‘Significant Gaps’ Among Underserved

Hospice News

The company’s de novo strategy includes plans to open 10 new PACE centers by 2026, with three locations planned in Ohio. Hospice utilization rates reached 51.81% among Medicare decedents during 2022, which was above the national average of 49.1% Demographic trends are fueling BoldAge’s strategic growth. Census Bureau reported.

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Coalition ‘Strongly Urges’ Congress to Immortalize Hospice Telehealth Flexibilities

Hospice News

Telehealth is an effective means of conducting these administrative visits without increasing Medicare costs,” the coalition stated in its letter to Congress. Congress is currently mulling legislation that could extend current telehealth regulations through 2026. The bill has since stalled on the U.S.

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