Hospice News

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

In today’s hospice environment, providers are continually asked to do more with less. The Impact of AI on Hospice Operations AI’s impact on hospice care is accelerating, primarily due to its capacity to streamline processes and reduce the administrative workload for staff. Enter artificial intelligence (AI).

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 15, 2024

Hospice providers and stakeholders are carefully examining the proposed changes included in the recently introduced Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act as the bill begins its journey through the legislative process. this summer. “It

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Hospice News

JUNE 4, 2024

When hospice providers are being investigated not just by CMS but the FBI, the stakes for compliance are higher than ever. In May of 2024, the federal law enforcement agency placed its spotlight on the rising number of complaints about hospice fraud, in which hospices participate in signing up seniors for care without the seniors’ knowledge.

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Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2024

Hospice providers are navigating a minefield in today’s regulatory environment to avoid getting caught up in the mix of fraudulent activity in the space. Fraud, waste and abuse exist in several different industries and health care is no exception. It’s a concern that continues to tarnish hospice.

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Hospice News

APRIL 24, 2023

Hospice care has historically been grounded in person-to-person communication without a heavy reliance on technology. However, drastically increased hospice utilization and the pandemic-driven adoption of technology across health care settings have transformed the landscape entirely.

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Hospice News

JULY 8, 2024

Increased technology utilization in end-of-life care has come with innovative care delivery opportunities alongside cybersecurity risks. Technology is gaining momentum in end-of-life care delivery, with hospices carefully navigating the opportunities and risks, according to Jody Rudman, partner at the law firm Husch Blackwell. “AI

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Hospice News

MARCH 26, 2025

Todays hospice landscape is reaching a pivotal point of evolutionary growth that has come with increased oversight as regulators seek to curb fraudulent activity in the space, according to Bill Dombi, senior counsel for the law firm Arnall Golden Gregory (AGG). What are the leading legal concerns facing hospice providers right now?

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 10, 2024

Cameron Muir has been named as the new CMO of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). His new title signals the organization’s strategic plans to reshape hospice care delivery through patient-centered, innovative approaches, according to NPHI CEO Tom Koutsoumpas.

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Hospice News

APRIL 12, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed 2025 hospice rule contains clarifications on which physicians may certify patients for hospice enrollment. Clarification from CMS in these areas will be helpful to hospices, physicians and those reviewing hospice records for compliance.”

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Hospice News

JULY 30, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has unveiled its final 2025 hospice rule, which includes a 2.9% The increase represents an estimated $790 million rise in total hospice payments compared to Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The finalized hospice cap amount for FY 2025 is $34,465.34, up from $33,494.01 this year. “The

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

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% The leading cause of these payments were inaccurate or incomplete documentation. Medicare fee-for-service programs made $31.23 Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Both opportunities and challenges exist for hospice providers as regulators zero in on program integrity. Hospices stand to grow their census by taking on patients left behind by “bad actors” in certain markets. Widespread reports of fraud and abuse in hospice have led to intensified regulatory oversight during 2023.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Unified Program Integrity Contractor (UPIC) auditors are taking a sharper look at nursing home room-and-board for hospice patients. Hospices have increasingly faced more regulatory scrutiny in recent years amid rising program integrity concerns, including ramped up UPIC audits , among various others.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 23, 2023

Croix Hospice has launched a new specialty program focused on wound care. The Minnesota-based provider has hired a number of board-certified wound and ostomy clinicians to operate the new program, its eighth specialty care service. Croix Hospice is a portfolio company of the private equity firm H.I.G. ” The post St.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 3, 2023

Kathy Hochul (D) has vetoed legislation that would have effectively banned new, for-profit hospices in the state. It would have prohibited the establishment of for-profit hospices in New York state and forbid current for-profit operators from increasing capacity. . Utah had the highest rate at 60.7%.

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Hospice News

JULY 17, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is conducting a small pilot program for post-payment reviews of hospice stays that exceed 90 days. CMS internal data has identified a potential area of vulnerability beginning with the second benefit period, or 91st day in hospice,” Noridian indicated in an announcement. “CMS

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Hospice News

JANUARY 17, 2024

Hospice providers, industry groups and other stakeholders recently penned a letter urging Congress to improve payment infrastructures that would increase access to end-of-life care among rural populations. For some rural areas, they’re not seen as financially feasible or sustainable to larger programs,” Kuhlman told Hospice News. “So,

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Greater transparency in staff evaluation processes and increased education will be keys to navigating a range of hospice compliance challenges in a post-pandemic landscape. Additional services include palliative care, a veterans program and care coordination. On Wednesday, the U.S.

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Hospice News

JULY 21, 2023

As federal regulators intensify their focus on hospices, operators may begin seeing an influx of Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) activity. billion directly related to health care fraud abuse. Medicare hospice expenditures rise by about $1 billion annually, according to CMS. The president’s budget was approved for $2.5

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Hospice News

AUGUST 24, 2023

Increased hospice oversight aimed at curbing fraud in the industry could come with a mixed bag of financial and operational impacts for providers. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has honed in on hospice program integrity, rolling out a swath of new measures to reduce fraud, waste and abuse in the space.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

A federal judge has sentenced Jesus Virlar-Cadena, formerly a medical director for the Texas-based hospice company Merida Group, to 50 months in prison for his role in a $152 million scheme. Evidence at the trial showed that the Merida Group marketed their hospice programs through a group of companies,” the U.S.

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Hospice News

JUNE 17, 2022

One of the defining principles of hospice care is honoring the wishes of terminally ill patients. Now, with increasing frequency, a health care provider’s failure to honor those directives can lead to litigation or penalties by regulators. This can prevent or delay hospice care for individuals who chose to receive it. .

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Hospice News

MARCH 29, 2023

Though evidence shows that longer hospice stays reduce costs, providers are still walking a regulatory tightrope. On one hand, longer hospice stays can lead to improved patient and family satisfaction and greater cost saving opportunities. Young told Hospice News. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 25, 2022

Buyers in a hot hospice M&A market are bringing compliance under a microscope as regulators keep a tight watch. All hospice transactions undergo some type of compliance review. But there’s nothing routine about these reviews in today’s current hospice regulatory environment. This includes the U.S.

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Hospice News

MARCH 13, 2023

Utah-based Summit Hospice has agreed to settle allegations of False Claims Act violations for $1.05 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. Summit Hospice denied the allegations. 7, 2021 and Oct.

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Hospice News

JUNE 2, 2022

Supreme Court may take up a False Claims Act (FCA) case involving Georgia-Based Bethany Hospice & Palliative Care LLC, despite indications from the U.S. The action against Bethany is one of three hospice FCA cases that the nation’s highest court has been asked to review.

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Hospice News

APRIL 24, 2023

As the hospice landscape shifts and hospice care is delivered more widely, another care type has made entry into the conversation: palliative care. Every organization structures its care approach a little differently and delivers that care in a variety of care settings.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 18, 2022

Supreme Court has rejected a petition to hear a False Claims Act (FCA) and anti-kickback case brought against Georgia-Based Bethany Hospice & Palliative Care LLC. FCA cases often hinge on the question of patient eligibility for hospice care based on a six-month terminal prognosis, often involving a qui tam complaint.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Having peer-support and employee feedback loops are key pieces in some hospices’ onboarding models. Rising demand for hospice amid prolific clinical workforce shortages has providers laser-focused on effective recruitment and retention strategies. It’s getting doses of training that are more meaningful.”

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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. Hospices have faced ever-intensifying scrutiny from regulators in recent years. Be ready for regulation.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

hospice providers have the same problem — a workforce shortage — many seek to address it using unique solutions. Worsening workforce shortages have been keeping hospice leaders awake at night for several years running. Hospices, in turn, have taken new steps to gain or keep their staff, particularly clinicians. Though most U.S.

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Hospice News

MAY 9, 2023

The future of telehealth in hospice care delivery is among the questions swirling around the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11. Though initially the telehealth waivers weren’t intended to be permanent, they will likely have long-term impacts in hospice.

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Hospice News

JUNE 13, 2023

Department of Justice (DOJ) is prioritizing hospice as the agency cracks down on health care fraud. DOJ counts hospice claims among the root causes of rising Medicare costs in recent years, according to Lisa Miller, deputy assistant attorney general overseeing the department’s Crime Fraud Section.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 15, 2022

Barbara Jacobsmeyer as of July 1 became the first CEO of Enhabit Home Health and Hospice (NYSE: EHAB) as an independent, standalone company. Enhabit emerged from the spinoff of Encompass Health’s (NYSE: EHC) home health and hospice segment, which completed in July. The new company expects to earn nearly $1.08 billion to $1.12

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Continuous home care (CHC) represented 0.9% of hospice care days during 2022, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). The widespread labor shortage in hospice is one of several barriers to patients’ receiving CHC, according to Sarah Simmons, director of quality at NHPCO.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Department of Justice (DOJ) is pursuing a qui tam lawsuit against Care Alternatives Inc., Four former employees of Care Alternatives have alleged that the New Jersey-based company billed Medicare for hospice services when patients were not eligible to receive them. The lawsuit was filed in the third circuit U.S. New Jersey U.S.

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Hospice News

JUNE 28, 2023

But in time, her drive to improve patients’ quality of life led her to the hospice and palliative care fields. Templeton now is a hospice physician consultant at Weatherbee Resources as well as medical director for Texas-based Hendrick Hospice Care. What qualities or characteristics would such a person possess?

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