Hospice News

APRIL 16, 2025

Strong staff education and reimbursement are among the keys to successfully integrating social determinants of health within a palliative care program. Catholic Hospice and Catholic Palliative Care Services is part of the Florida-based Catholic Health Services of the Archdiocese of Miami. Screening tools developed by the U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 17, 2025

The San Antonio, Texas-headquartered company provides hospice, home health, veterans services, assisted living and skilled nursing services. Touchstone Communities has provided care since 1994 and is currently considering the launch of a new behavioral health service line, Campbell indicated.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 1, 2024

The Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act, if enacted, would make changes to the ways hospices provide respite care. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) is in the process of drafting the bill that would represent the most significant reforms to date for hospice payment and oversight.

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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

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.”

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Seasons Hospice

APRIL 22, 2025

Two terms that often arise in these conversations are palliative care and hospice care. In this months blog post, well break down the key differences between palliative care and hospice care, explore how they are delivered, who can benefit from them, and when each type of care is appropriate.

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Hospice News

JUNE 13, 2024

Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) is drafting a landmark bill that, if enacted, would represent the most significant reforms to date for hospice payment and oversight. Blumenauer announced the bill, the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act, on Thursday at the Hospice News Elevate conference in Washington D.C.

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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

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. The funding follows a $6.5

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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

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

JANUARY 8, 2025

. “We are excited to partner with the seasoned and accomplished team at Renovus as we look forward to bringing Superior’s high-quality and compassionate care to more patients and families across the region,” said Superiors CEO David Martin, in a statement. This is a rate of 48.2%.

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Hospice News

MARCH 29, 2023

“For a hospice administrator or executive, you really have to be very focused on your length of stay data,” Young told Hospice News in a recent Elevate podcast episode. Are you in an outlier scenario with your data that Medicare contractors are looking at? Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S.

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Hospice News

MAY 8, 2024

A bill currently before Congress would extend through 2026 regulatory flexibilities related to telehealth, including the ability to recertify patients for hospice care. If a hospice is undergoing a period of enhanced oversight by the U.S. It also includes some exceptions. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.)

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Traditions Health

JANUARY 5, 2025

Although you may have heard of hospice care , you may not know how its actually arranged. Because hospice is for terminally ill patients, it can be difficult to talk about for yourself or your loved one. Traditions Health understands how stressful it can be to opt for end-of-life care. Why hospice care?

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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

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 16, 2024

Arizona-based MD Home Health has expanded its business lines to include in-clinic care, virtual care and a hospice program. Founded in 1985, the home health company will soon also offer a physician and nurse practitioner house call service and a new remote patient monitoring program.

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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

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). As Calvarys new president, Fosina will oversee the organizations growth across its service lines, which include acute hospital care, palliative care, hospice and community-based care. Allais has also been a registered nurse at Hospital of St.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries are more likely to enroll in hospice from a community setting than patients in traditional fee-for-service programs. million patients who elected hospice in the last 90 days of life during the years 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2018. This is close to half of all Medicare beneficiaries.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Utilization continuous home care has dropped precipitously during the past decade, with labor pressures, regulatory scrutiny and billing challenges as contributing factors. Continuous home care (CHC) represented 0.9% of hospice care days during 2022, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

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Hospice News

JANUARY 3, 2023

Just think about it all the pharmacy needs, the nursing needs, the clergy needs, the supply needs, the equipment needs. Debbie Johnston, founder, Ask Nurse Debbie and Serenity First Hospice, author of The Hospice Handbook. “One Susan Ponder-Stansel, CEO, Alivia Care. Susan Ponder-Stansel, CEO, Alivia Care.

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Hospice News

JUNE 2, 2023

Hosparus Health Hosparus Health Hosparus CEO David Cook Baptist Health Deaconess Hospice launched in 1993, initially branded as Green River Hospice. In 2021, more than 22,000 Medicare decedents elected hospice care in Kentucky. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2024

Bristol Hospice has acquired Mississippi-based Mid-Delta Hospice, a move that marked its entry into the state. The decision to launch services in a new state came with growing recognition around rising demand for home health and hospice care, according to Bristol Hospice CEO and President Alex Mauricio.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 8, 2024

Hospice utilization rates among Medicare descendents in Florida reached 55.97% in 2022, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Facts and Figures report. Francis Reflections operates two general inpatient hospice care units in Melbourne and Titusville, Florida.

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2024

David Lovell, its founder and owner, launched the for-profit hospice in 2010, and the enterprise became Medicare-certified in 2012. Its average daily census hovers around 125 to 199 patients, according to data available from the National Hospice Locator. million in improper Medicare claims. million in restitution.

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Hospice News

MARCH 14, 2024

Hospices, in aggregate, are showing improvement on the quality measure for visits in the last days of life. The number of registered nurse and social worker visits during a patient’s final week is one of the seven quality measures that CMS uses to evaluate providers. CMS introduced SIA in 2016.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

clinical power means mastering timely initiation of care. 30% of home health patients dont get initiated into care for seven days as an industry, we have to look at those numbers and decide, as leaders, its unacceptable, Compassus CEO Mike Asselta said last month during a panel discussion at the Home Care 100 conference.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

As hospices prepare for Medicare Advantage, more nonprofits are finding that creating partnerships or entering affiliations will better position themselves for payer negotiations. Nonprofit hospice affiliations have surged in 2022 and 2023. The program also includes components designed to expand access to palliative care.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Through the JV, Compassus will assume management of Providence’s home-based care business lines, with each company owning a 50% stake. Services offered through the JV will include hospice, palliative care, home health and private duty nursing, branded as Providence at Home with Compassus.

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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

MAY 8, 2023

The company employs nurse practitioners and other clinicians to provide palliative care in the home. At the same time, PalliCare helps nurse practitioners interested in setting up their own palliative care practices. It’s really been our hottest areas to be in,” Fluhart told Palliative Care News.

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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

DECEMBER 8, 2023

This includes the revamping of the hospice survey process and the establishment of a Special Focus Program slated to begin in 2024, to name a few. What we would love for our lawmakers to do is really champion the program as it exists and make sure it’s protected from threats to its payment system,” Baird told Hospice News.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

The bonus program included a one-time retention payment that ranged from $2,000 to $15,000 per employee for nurses, nurse managers, home health aides and social workers. The majority of these hires were nurses, Westfall indicated. VITAS saw nursing home admissions rise 9.4% in Q4, along with a 2.7% VITAS reached 103.9

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

California is among the states that have become hotbeds for fraud, including a swath of providers that were starting hospices just to flip the licenses. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) honed in on hospice program integrity through a number of new regulations, including some in the agency’s 2024 hospice final rule.

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