Hospice News

JUNE 15, 2023

After more than a decade working in hospice leadership, Alli Collins came across something she had never seen before — a financially viable, all-volunteer provider that is not Medicare-certified. I’ve spent well over a decade in the Medicare-certified side of the world. She never instituted a Medicare provider number.

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Hospice News

JUNE 30, 2022

Patients have already begun receiving care through EdenHospice, which is currently awaiting Medicare certification. The EdenHospice team includes a hospice physician, director of nursing, chaplain, social worker, aides and volunteers. Hospice utilization among Medicare decedents in Texas reached 52.1% Projections from the U.S.

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Hospice News

MARCH 22, 2024

The palliative care program works on a medical model that is led by physicians and nurse practitioners who do home visits, and other services such as social workers and chaplains available as needed, based on the patient’s care plan, according to Krejs.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Payment streams for palliative care, most palliative programs are relying on a combination of Medicare Part B and grants and fundraising,” Schramm said. Social workers and chaplains provide services on a PRN basis, Gerke said. A key aspect of this is expanding geographic scale. That would be way too difficult to manage.”

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Hospice News

MAY 29, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) may not have accounted for the financial and administrative burdens associated with its implementation of the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) Tool.

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Hospice News

JULY 20, 2022

Payers, including Medicare, like to see providers reduce the costs of care. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reimbursed palliative care through a fee-for-service model that only covers physician and licensed independent practitioner services, rather than the full range of interdisciplinary care.

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Hospice News

MARCH 23, 2023

On the patient side, Medicare beneficiaries face out-of-pocket costs when advance care planning is performed in any setting outside of an annual wellness visit. Numerous advanced care planning tools show that social workers, chaplains and nurses can have those conversations. Inability to bill can really limit access further.”

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 3, 2024

Telehealth is an effective means of conducting these administrative visits without increasing Medicare costs,” the coalition stated in its letter to Congress. Extending this flexibility, especially in rural and high-traffic urban areas, will significantly benefit both patients and providers.

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Hospice News

APRIL 22, 2022

Volunteers, social workers, chaplains and bereavement counselors also make up the center’s staff. among Medicare decedents, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. The Sunshine State in 2018 ranked third nationwide for hospice utilization at 57.9% Only Utah and Arizona saw higher rates at 59.4% billion.

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Hospice News

JUNE 18, 2024

Primarily, Medicare reimburses for palliative care through fee-for-service payment programs that cover physician and licensed independent practitioner services. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also allows Medicare Advantage plans to cover palliative care as a supplemental benefit.

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Hospice News

MAY 30, 2023

Participants included hospice aides, social workers, nurses, clinicians, chaplains and other staff. Aides and other hospice workers are in high demand in California, which is among the states with higher volumes of Medicare decedents who elect hospice, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Social worker wages went up 3.78%, as well as a 2.58% increase for chaplains. Nearly 99% of the respondents were Medicare-certified organizations. Other outliers include Massachusetts ($45.08), Connecticut ($45.15) and on the lower end of the spectrum, Tennessee ($33.93). The effective date of the research is July 1, 2023.

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Hospice News

MAY 30, 2023

Palliative care is provided by a specialty-trained team of doctors, nurses, social workers, and chaplains who work together with a patient’s other treating clinicians to provide an extra layer of support. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. While the large majority of U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 29, 2024

Fee-for-service Medicare, for example, only covers physician and licensed independent practitioner services and does not cover the full range of interdisciplinary palliative care. A number of industry groups and lawmakers have pushed for the establishment of a dedicated palliative care benefit within Medicare.

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Hospice News

MARCH 5, 2024

Both Medicare and managed care don’t reimburse appropriately to cover the cost of salaries and education in palliative care,” McInnes said. So productivity cannot be as robust for some of the social work, chaplain or nurse visits. Shallow palliative reimbursement is at the crux of the sustainability issues, according to McInnes.

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Hospice News

JUNE 29, 2023

These are usually chaplains or social workers providing bereavement services, and some hospices also have clinical psychologists or therapists as part of that team. There isn’t a guideline as to what would be considered best practice or appropriately fulfilling the Medicare requirements for bereavement,” Gross said.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Lawmakers have an essential role in ensuring the viability of the Medicare Hospice Benefit, according to Davis Baird, director for government affairs for hospice at the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC). So, having those conversations about what those improvements would be is going to be an important exercise in 2024.”

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024

Similar to other palliative care programs, Sincera’s clinics use an interdisciplinary model, including nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteers under the direction of board-certified palliative care physicians. The program currently works with 180 physicians in its service area.

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Hospice News

MAY 29, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is affecting the palliative care space. “We Shortages in skilled palliative care professionals, including physicians, nurses, chaplains, and social workers, have the potential to impact the quality of care provided,” Jackson said. She also underscored workforce shortages.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to propose a rule that would prohibit hospices from selling licenses or transitioning ownership for at least 36 months following initial Medicare certification. Hospice care, all told, saves Medicare approximately $3.5 This prompted the U.S. reduction, the report indicated.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

Though operators often feel siloed within the Medicare Hospice Benefit, they are not shielded from the shifting currents in the health care system at large. Addressing the psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients and families — including bereavement care, social work and chaplain services — have long been integral to the hospice model.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

We’ve heard from the [Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)] on the 20% payment cap reduction. If we look at some of the decks and slide presentations on the Medicare Advantage carve-in, going back to 2018, it’s the same information, and we’re still talking about impacting change. Heath Bartness, CEO, St.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) quality measures such as the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) and the Hospice Item Set (HIS). Additionally, 90% of families reported a willingness to recommend the hospice provider to others. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback for it.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

HSPN: Can you talk a little bit about what kind of disruption could occur in the hospice industry, as a result of Medicare Advantage? As more and more Medicare beneficiaries become of age every day, they’re opting into the MA plans. They always say they’re going to operate like Medicare, follow Medicare guidelines.

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Hospice News

APRIL 4, 2024

Current reimbursement structures within the federally established Medicare Hospice Benefit do not sufficiently support the level of care needed in rural-based communities, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). “We House of Representatives’ Ways and MeansCommittee.

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2023

Their care model is interdisciplinary, including nurse practitioners, social workers and chaplains. Meanwhile, the ACO began looking at decedent data among its Medicare-shared savings population and compared those who had received home-based palliative care to those that had not.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 6, 2023

Currently, providers’ best bets for more robust payment are Medicare Advantage and Accountable Care Organization (ACO) relationships, as well as a growing number of disease-specific model demonstrations that incorporate elements of palliative care. This shortage can limit the capacity to provide comprehensive care to those in need.

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Hospice News

MARCH 22, 2024

The Oregon-based hospice, palliative care and home health provider recently celebrated the 45th anniversary of its founding, which preceded the establishment of the Medicare Hospice Benefit. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)], and we have that distinction in the hospice arena.

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Hospice News

MARCH 25, 2024

In February that year we got our corporation licenses for a business and in November we became Medicare-certified. We had several things offered virtually, some of our chaplain services, patient visits and volunteer care. It’s about meeting the Medicare standards and accreditation requirements, whether it’s home health or hospice.

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Hospice News

MARCH 2, 2023

She recently spoke with Hospice News about the industry’s changing environment and the potential to revise aspects of the Medicare benefit, as well as top priorities for her upcomiing term at AAHPM. Do you think there are aspects of the Medicare benefit as it’s currently designed that need to be changed or updated?

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Seasons Hospice

APRIL 22, 2025

Common conditions treated with palliative care include: Cancer Heart disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Kidney failure Alzheimers disease or other dementias Parkinsons disease A multidisciplinary team typically delivers palliative care, including doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and therapists.

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GeriPal

APRIL 27, 2023

Attendee 14: I am most hopeful that as palliative caregivers, we will continue to authentically welcome the voices of our interprofessional team members, chaplains, social workers, and so we have true interprofessional collaboration. Attendee 15: And so I’m most hopeful for our younger generation so that I can retire.

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CareAcademy Blog

APRIL 30, 2025

At the heart of a hospice care is its staff, including nurses, doctors, social workers, and chaplains. The hospice's primary revenue sources include Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance reimbursement, private payments, and donations. Grants and loans may be available, but research all funding options before deciding.

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Hospice News

JULY 19, 2024

The hospice is currently building the financial and operational steam to operate two inpatient centers, according to Chaz Blackburn, director of volunteer services and spiritual care chaplain at Circle of Life Hospice. “We Good Samaritan Hospice has more than 150 employees who care for patients across 14 cities in Virginia.

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NHPCO

JUNE 16, 2023

These congressional advocacy actions came a week after NHPCO filed detailed comments on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Hospice Wage Index and Quality Reporting Proposed Rule, demonstrating the importance of both legislative and regulatory advocacy for protecting and improving hospice and palliative care.

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The Chaplain's Report

SEPTEMBER 24, 2021

From time to time I’ve been asked “so how do I become a Chaplain?” It depends not only on what you do to prepare to be a chaplain but also on what employers expect from a Chaplain. Another hospice requires only that a Chaplain be ordained and have some prior experience in ministry.

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Seasons Hospice

MARCH 23, 2021

Chaplains offer spiritual support to patients who wish to receive it. From scripture reading to prayer, chaplains can help your loved one find peace and meaning in the final chapter of life. . Chaplain services : We designed spiritual support to help your loved one through end-of-life questions. Emotional and Spiritual Support.

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