Hospice News

OCTOBER 1, 2024

The workforce shortage and value-based care will shape the future of hospice, according to some providers. The health care reimbursement environment is moving towards significant change. Examples include the Kidney Care Choices Model, the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model and the Enhancing Oncology Model.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 26, 2022

The home health and hospice provider employs roughly 9,509 staff nationwide and reached an average daily census of 17,360 patients in the second quarter of this year. Kauai Hospice Recruits Retired Emergency Doc as Medical Director. Hospice utilization in Hawaii reached 45.4%

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Hospice News

MAY 31, 2024

Patients with eating disorders can face an array of challenges that impede access to health care and pose risk of negative care experiences, according to Dr. Jonathan Treem, regional medical director of palliative care and hospice at Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group | Kaiser Permanente.

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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

AUGUST 28, 2024

A federal court has sentenced Dr. John Thropay, a former medical director for several hospice companies, to 37 months in prison for his involvement in a $2.8 million hospice fraud scheme. Among the companies for which Thropay worked was Blue Sky Hospice, located in Van Nuys, California.

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Hospice News

MARCH 29, 2024

The 2025 proposed hospice rule is raising some questions along with payment rates. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a 2.6% increase in hospice per diems for 2025. We know that hospice care has demonstrated $3.5 Hospice care saves Medicare roughly $3.5

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2024

Located in Calhoun, Georgia, Tapestry Hospice’s service region spans 10 counties in the state. Dr. David Lovell, its founder and owner, launched the for-profit hospice in 2010, and the enterprise became Medicare-certified in 2012. million in improper Medicare claims. She was ordered to pay upwards of $3.67

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Hospice News

JUNE 12, 2024

A 2018 study showed that most students in clinical disciplines do not feel prepared to provide family care at the end of life. Palliative care and hospice is incredibly rewarding, but we sit with incredible suffering. Patients may be higher-acuity in some markets than in others as well. Our strategy depends on the market.

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Hospice News

MAY 22, 2024

But moving away from fee-for-service towards value-based payment could make a difference when it comes to hiring and retention, according to Dr. Jennifer Blechman, palliative care medical director at the Oregon-based nonprofit Partners in Care. Palliative care traditionally loses money.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 25, 2022

Despite slowed intensity thus far in 2022 compared to previous years, the hospice sector has “remained active” and “still outpaces” other markets in health care, according to a recent report from Bass Berry & Sims. Regulators have kept a close watch on hospice deals as merger and acquisition activity swells in the space.

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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

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

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Its technology platform connects patients and family members to palliative and hospice nurses, social workers, spiritual coordinators and other interdisciplinary staff. Guaranteed serves Medicare and Medicaid patients across five counties in southern California, including the Los Angeles region. Carl Derrick as medical director.

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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. “We

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Hospice News

JULY 11, 2024

Efforts to establish potential payment mechanisms for high-acuity palliative services within the Medicare Hospice Benefit will require greater clarity from regulators, according to the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC). The use of the term ‘palliative’ for treatments in this RFI was problematic.”

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Hospice News

MARCH 18, 2024

The model uses information gathered from a patient’s genome to plan for care, treatment and services, and to some extent, predict a likely health trajectory, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. For one, these services are also conflated with hospice care.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Caris Healthcare provides adult and pediatric hospice care to more than 40,000 patients and families across 28 locations in Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Additional services include palliative care, a veterans program and care coordination. On Wednesday, the U.S.

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Hospice News

MARCH 12, 2024

The nation’s four largest hospice industry organizations — LeadingAge, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) — in late 2023 conducted a 133-respondent provider survey focused on regulation.

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Hospice News

JUNE 8, 2022

Case in point, the Providence Institute for Human Caring last year launched a tele-palliative care program aimed at addressing rural patients’ unmet needs. Hospice and palliative care providers have wrangled for decades with obstacles that complicate access to rural patients and make their care more expensive.

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Hospice News

JUNE 29, 2023

As with nursing, the industry-wide labor shortage has impacted bereavement care, which is an underfunded service, according to Dr. Dawn Gross, palliative care physician at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Health. Gross is also a medical director at ANX Hospice Care.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 30, 2024

Hospices under pressure Given today’s reimbursement pressures, coupled with inflation and rising labor costs, expenses are a very real concern for hospice providers, particularly smaller organizations with tight margins. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gave hospices a 3.1%

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 13, 2024

This year saw regulatory evolutions spurred by program integrity concerns, as well as the introduction of landmark legislation, shifts in reimbursement trends and a change in presidential administration with unknown impacts across the care continuum. Defendants were charged with wire fraud, health care fraud and money laundering.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

Understanding payer priorities in defining the scope of quality is vital for hospices to thrive not only in traditional Medicare, but also in today’s value-based reimbursement climate. The nitty gritty details of data tracking and management matter when it comes to ensuring both a healthy bottom line and quality patient care.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

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. The home health organization has provided care in Denver, Colorado, since 1923. That was a really foundational year for us.

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Hospice News

MARCH 6, 2023

Hospice licensing should remain under the authority of state governments rather than federal agencies, though lawmakers “haven’t ruled anything out” when it comes to program integrity, according Rep. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on reported instances of hospice fraud in several states. “I

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Hospice News

JUNE 1, 2022

This can result in patients coming to hospice later in the course of their illnesses, according to Lee, who also serves on the board of directors at the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network (SWHPN). A late referral often means that the patient will not receive the full benefits of hospice care.

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Hospice News

JULY 13, 2022

In some cases, hospice leaders have been arrested for their roles, received several years or decades of prison sentences , or they have been barred from practicing all together. FCA cases most commonly center around questions of a patient’s eligibility for hospice care based on a six-month terminal prognosis, an area that the U.S.

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Hospice News

JULY 23, 2024

That group has helped us in interviewing new potential hospice physicians and medical directors as well as helping onboard and create connections. The physician council has developed onboarding materials to help those physicians who are joining the organization to be able to understand the regulatory aspects of care.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 19, 2023

Hospice and behavioral health care could increasingly intersect in coming years as demand for specialized care grows. But the prevalence of mental health conditions and related concerns like isolation and substance abuse mean that hospice and behavioral health providers may need to find more ways to integrate their services. “I

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Hospice News

MARCH 25, 2024

Arizona-based Stoneridge Hospice launched services in 2020 with an aim to address a swelling aging population’s growing need for end-of-life care. My wife was a nurse in emergency medicine for several years, and my niece was a long-time hospice nurse. We now have a service-mile radius of 60 miles in Maricopa County, Arizona.

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Hospice News

APRIL 17, 2023

Kusserow said that palliative care is very much in demand, from both the home health and hospice sides, but he added that there’s been a reluctance on the part of the government to fund it appropriately. Reimbursement for palliative care in fee-for-service Medicare currently only covers physician or nurse practitioner services.

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GeriPal

MARCH 24, 2023

What is our role as hospice and palliative care providers in advocating for high-quality hospice care? If you are interested in signing the position statement “Core Roles and Responsibilities of Physicians in Hospice Care”, click here. JAMA IM 2021 Hospice Acquisitions by Profit-Driven Private Equity Firms.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

This article is based on a Hospice News discussion with Daniel Schwartz, Chief Strategy Officer at Elara Caring, Devin Woodley, VP of Managed Care Contracting and B2B Sales at VNS Health, Gavin Baumgardner, VP and National Medical Director for Complex and Palliative care at Amedisys, and Anthony Spano, Director of Client Development at Netsmart.

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High Peaks Hospice

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Ann Merkel grew up in New Haven, Connecticut where the first hospice in the United States started in 1974. That year Medicare determined that dying was no longer a diagnosis that warranted a hospital admission. The Merkels keenly felt the lack of compassionate care options for the dying. David Merkel, lived in Saranac Lake.

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Shining Light Hospice

APRIL 19, 2021

M any people are unfamiliar with hospice care and how it works, beyond a basic passing familiarity with the name. Patients often have questions about it, including how long hospice care lasts, and even if they can come off it if their condition improves. How Long Can I Be On Hospice?

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Hospice of the North Coast

AUGUST 25, 2023

Hospice services, a specialized form of care tailored to individuals with terminal illnesses and their families, go beyond mere symptom management – they prioritize comfort and solace. What exactly does hospice care entail? Their aim is to elevate the quality of life.

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NHPCO

JULY 25, 2023

These program integrity efforts include: Revocation of Medicare enrollment: CMS has identified fraud schemes and increased its operational ability to revoke Medicare enrollment more quickly. Organizational Deactivation: CMS proposes to revoke Medicare certification if a provider has not billed any claims within six months.

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