Hospice News

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

The soon-to-be-implemented hospice Special Focus Program (SFP) from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) could produce misinformation that could interfere with access to care. It might make them even fearful about hospice care, which is the last thing we want to see happen.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 8, 2025

Six nonprofit hospice providers recently joined forces to form the Hawaii Palliative and Hospice Care Collaborative. The initiative is an effort to ensure sustainable access amid rising demand for end-of-life and serious illness care. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaiis hospice program. Ho told local news.

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Hospice News

APRIL 22, 2025

Underserved patient populations are facing a growing deficit when it comes to accessing quality, inclusive hospice care at the end of life. When we look specifically at hospice, we still have a lot of gaps to close [and] we continue to see two significant disparities, Bloom said at the Hospice News ELEVATE conference in Florida.

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Hospice News

MARCH 4, 2025

Hospices coast-to-coast have undergone leadership transitions, including changes in legal executives and a slew of newly appointed CEOs, among other roles in the industry. Texas-based New Day provides home health, hospice, palliative and personal care services across 31 locations in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and in its home state.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

Carol Miller (R-West Virginia) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) have reintroduced the Hospice Recertification Flexibility Act. If enacted, the bill would allow hospices to conduct face-to-face recertification visits via telehealth. Hospice care exists to provide comfort and compassion during heartbreaking times.

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Hospice News

MARCH 7, 2025

Mahogany Home Health and Hospice recently launched services in southwestern Ohio. The new hospice startup is the first Black-owned hospice and home health organization statewide with a drive to improve utilization among underserved populations. Couzens has also held hospice chaplain roles at St.

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Hospice News

MARCH 5, 2025

Nevada lawmakers have introduced a bill to curb hospice fraud in that state. Among the significant changes that the legislation proposed was having newly licensed hospice programs in Nevada undergo enhanced regulatory oversight for the first two years of operations.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 23, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has made public its first cohort for the hospice Special Focus Program (SFP). Finalized in the 2024 home health payment rule, the program is designed to identify poor performing hospices, mandate quality improvement and in some cases impose additional penalties. million annually.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) and Jimmy Panetta (D-California) have introduced a bill that would reform aspects of the hospice Special Focus Program (SFP). If enacted, the Enhancing Hospice Oversight and Transparency Act also would increase the penalty for hospices that do not report quality measure data to 10% by 2027, up from 4% currently.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 3, 2024

NuHealth is partnering with Hospice of New York to offer inpatient end-of-life care to its patients. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility. NuHealth was formally known as Nassau Health Care Corp. “By Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Ryan, NuHealth interim president and CEO, in a statement.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 10, 2024

NYSE: EHAB) is projecting strong hospice growth in the next year fueled in part by investments in technology and workforce development. The home health and hospice provider is in part leveraging technology to fuel its plans, Jacobsmeyer said during the Bank of Americas Securities 2024 Home Care Conference. Enhabit Inc.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 10, 2025

Hospice News spoke with a group of industry leaders about the most pressing market forces and trends that will shape the space during 2025. Their comments carried some common threads, including rising demand for care in the home, continued labor pressures, industry consolidation and intensifying regulatory scrutiny.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 9, 2024

Hospice News explores the issues garnering growing attention in end-of-life care delivery in seven of this years hidden gem stories. Topics span trends related to program integrity, workforce development, health equity, service diversification and the keys to hospices growth strategies. Optum completed its $5.4

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Today’s hospice leaders need to take a wide view into the range of challenges facing their interdisciplinary care teams, according to Dr. Andrew Mayo, chief medical officer at St. Croix Hospice. Croix Hospice in 2014 as an associate medical director. Mayo joined St. Paul, Minnesota and going on to practice in St.

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Hospice News

MARCH 22, 2023

Despite years of scrutiny over the duration of hospice care, new data show that longer stays reduce health care costs in the last year of life by as much as 11%. All told, hospice care — regardless of length of stay — saves Medicare approximately $3.5 billion for patients in their last year of life, a 3.1%

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Hospice News

JANUARY 17, 2025

Some hospices have delved deeper into service diversification to improve timely access and expand their patient reach, while others remain focused on end-of-life care delivery. The San Antonio, Texas-headquartered company provides hospice, home health, veterans services, assisted living and skilled nursing services.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

s (Nasdaq: AMED) hospice segment has seen headwinds impact admissions growth as the company awaits its pending acquisition by the UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) subsidiary Optum. The company’s hospice segment revenue reached $207.9 Gross margin for the hospice segment fell slightly to 42.9% Amedisys Inc.’s year-over-year.

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Hospice News

MARCH 28, 2025

Dual pieces of legislation are circulating in New York proposing to block the entry of new for-profit hospices and limit expansion of existing entities in the state. If enacted, the bills would prohibit the establishment of new for-profit hospices in New York. Despite growing demand, hospice utilization runs low in the Empire State.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

Texas-based New Day Healthcare LLC on Monday announced its acquisition of Intrepid USA’s hospice operations in Missouri and in its home state. The deal includes Intrepid’s hospice assets in Joplin and Springfield, Missouri, as well as its locations in Beaumont, Texas. Hospice utilization rates hovered at 49.1% Census Bureau.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Chronically ill seniors need better access to affordable quality care options, Kennedy stated. He cited a goal to work with Medicare, Medicaid and Medicare Advantage programs in varied ways that improve health outcomes for beneficiaries.

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Hospice News

APRIL 5, 2023

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.

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Hospice News

APRIL 10, 2024

The Medicare Hospice Benefit could use an “upgrade” to ensure greater flexibility that may be necessary to fully support patients’ needs. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should consider is retiring the six-month terminal prognosis requirement and allowing for some concurrent care, Wallace and Wladkowski indicated.

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Hospice News

MARCH 21, 2025

The hospice industry is undergoing a transformative period of rising demand and regulatory changes. This is according to Scott Levy, chief government affairs officer at National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance). working hand-in-glove on policy issues with colleagues across the home health and hospice industries.

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Hospice News

APRIL 18, 2025

The barometer is falling in hospice care delivery. Adaptability is a providers hallmark in todays current hospice landscape, according to Greg Wood, executive director at Hospice of the Ozarks. Hospice of the Ozarks also has a veterans program and offers pet therapy services. DBA Hope HealthCare Services.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 17, 2025

Their comments carried some common threads, including further movement towards value-based care, a need to secure payment through business-to-business partnerships, a need for more concurrent curative and hospice care, and a continued status quo of insufficient reimbursement. Heath Bartness, CEO, St.

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Hospice News

MARCH 14, 2025

Rising demand for end-of-life care is pushing hospice growth opportunities to the forefront in value-based reimbursement. More payers in this arena are increasingly recognizing the depth of potential beneficial outcomes when it comes to collaborative hospice partnerships. billion in 2022, Medicare (MedPAC) reported.

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Hospice News

APRIL 29, 2025

Heart to Heart Hospices return on investment in its community-based palliative care service line has come in the form of improved quality and financial outcomes. The results are a product of the hospices recently formed value-based partnership with a leading unnamed Medicare Advantage plan in its home state.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Calls have grown louder for an overhauled design of the Medicare Hospice Benefit, but the path towards change is riddled with contrasting views over regulation, policy and payment structures. One part of the issue is that hospice reimbursement has not kept pace with evolving patient needs, Grant said.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has not responded to congressional concerns about the hospice Special Focus Program (SFP). Set for 2025 implementation, the SFP promises to identify hospices delivering poor quality care and target them for improvement remedies. Van Duyne told Hospice News in an email.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 19, 2024

If enacted, the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act could open up reimbursement pathways for high-acuity palliative services during a time when demand and costs are rising. The drafted Hospice CARE Act included potential avenues to improve payment for high-acuity palliative treatments.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 11, 2024

South Carolina-based Hospice Care of the Lowcountry is rebranding as MiraSol Health. The hospices new name contains the Latin word Sol, meaning sun. In addition to hospice, MiraSol offers community-based palliative care and counseling services.

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Hospice News

JULY 14, 2022

Margin pressures from the proposed cuts to Medicare home health rates could impact palliative care and hospice. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in June released its proposed home health reimbursement rule for 2023, which included a 4.2% pay hike for hospice care in 2023.

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Hospice News

MARCH 12, 2025

A Texas-based physician recently entered a settlement to pay nearly half a million dollars for their alleged involvement in a hospice kickback scheme that transpired roughly four years ago. Dr. John Patterson agreed to pay $486,626 to resolve allegations of kickback payments received from Nursemind Home Care. Justice Department.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) has introduced the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, which, if enacted, could revolutionize the Medicare Hospice Benefit. Hospice News / Merz Photography Hospice News / Merz Photography Rep.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Medicare fee-for-service programs made $31.23 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% of improper payments from Medicare in 2023, down from 12% in 2022, according to a new report from the U.S.

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Hospice News

MARCH 25, 2025

A federal court has ordered a stay on litigation intended to block the hospice Special Focus Program (SFP) after the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) pledged that it would not resume implementation during 2025. The crux of a lawsuit filed by hospice organizations against the U.S. They have asked the U.S.

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Hospice News

JULY 16, 2024

The hospice community is contributing input to the development of the forthcoming Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act. Blumenauer announced the bill at the Hospice News Elevate conference in Washington D.C. Hospice News photo by Merz Photography.

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