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. Jason Parsons, CEO, Blue Ridge Hospice It is encouraging that [Rep.

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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 10, 2025

Rising competition in the hospice space has fueled pivotal changes in end-of-life care delivery both for better and for worse, according to Arizona-based Hospice of the Valley Executive Director Debbie Shumway. We began in 1977 as a nonprofit hospice, and we are still a nonprofit today.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Pennant is the holding company for a group of independent hospice, home health and senior living providers located across 13 states. The company currently holds 115 hospice and home health agencies and 54 senior living providers as independent subsidiaries. This approach helps reduce fragmented care for seniors, Walker indicated.

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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. The program, set to begin Jan.

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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 new collaborative includes Hawaii Care Choices, Hospice Maui, Kauai Hospice, Navian Hawaii, North Hawaii Hospice and St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaiis hospice program.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized a nearly 2.9% To put it bluntly, Medicare plans to pay us less while costs go up. Since 1992, Medicare payment has been made under the PFS for the services of physicians and other billing professionals. Industry organizations were quick to denounce the pay cut. “To

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Hospice News

MARCH 4, 2025

The value-based agreement contracts Thyme Care with Humana Medicare Advantage plans, giving them access to their beneficiaries. Humana Medicare Advantage members who are eligible for the program in Michigan, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey may now receive services from Thyme Care.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 25, 2024

Hospice of the Chesapeake has unfurled a new dementia care program aimed at providing improved emotional, educational and practical support for patients and their caregivers as their conditions progress. The new program provides patients and their caregivers with direct support from Hospice of the Chesapeake’s interdisciplinary care team.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Access was the watchword in the palliative care community during 2024, as providers sought more ways to reach the right patients at the right time. The following are the most-read Palliative Care News articles of 2024. Substances in this realm include cannabis, ketamine, MDMA and psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD, among others.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to fraud allegations that have resulted in licensure and billing privilege revocation. Shaarawy provides internal and family medicine, palliative care and hospice services and operates a private practice in Canoga Park, California. court documents stated.

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Hospice News

MARCH 3, 2025

Stymied Medicaid reimbursement for nursing home room and board could threaten access to care for hospice patients in California and possibly other states. The issue centers around patients in nursing homes who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. This has caused hospices to lose thousands to millions of dollars in some cases.

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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

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

Palliative care providers are taking varied routes to address the most disruptive forces they are encountering this year, rising to challenges that have been persistent across the sector. Martha Twaddle, The Waud Family Medical Directorships palliative medicine and supportive care clinical professor of medicine at Northwestern Medicine.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

That model aligns to a large degree with that used within the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) payment demonstration from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, according to study author and research scientist Dr. Greg Sachs with the Indiana University Center for Aging Research at Regenstrief Institute.

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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. By offering inpatient hospice care at NUMC, we are ensuring all of Nassau County’s residents have access to compassionate end-of-life services regardless of their ability to pay,” said Megan C. “By

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Hospice News

MARCH 17, 2025

Congress has passed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act 2025 (FY2025) , which allowed for continuation of several public health, Medicare and Medicaid authorities and programs. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) temporarily instituted waivers during the public health emergency.

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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

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

Eden Health of Northern Nevada, dba Eden Hospice, has acquired A Plus Hospice Care in its home state. Through the transaction, A Plus Hospice Care patients will have access to Eden Health’s additional services, including home health, home care and palliative care. Financial terms were undisclosed. About 17.4% of Nevada’s 3.1

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

The program operates under WesleyLifes hospice umbrella, with a dedicated nurse practitioner and social worker leading patient care. The program is currently in its pilot phase, serving a 10-patient census, said Aimee Spores, director of hospice and palliative care at WesleyLife at Home. Both are hospital- and clinic-based.

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Hospice News

JUNE 28, 2023

Despite this potential, existing programs hit barriers created by misconceptions about palliative care among referring physicians, as well as health equity concerns, among others, according to an analysts of four payment model demonstrations carried out by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Texas-based New Day Healthcare LLC has announced its acquisition of Good Samaritan Society’s hospice operations in its home state. The transaction includes Good Samaritans hospice assets in El Paso, Texas, expanding New Days existing presence in that market. Hospice utilization rates hovered at 49.1% Scott Herman.

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Hospice News

MARCH 19, 2025

The seed for Texas-based Pallicare was planted at a chance meeting at a 2021 conference between Jonathan Fluhart, a management professional with a background in aerospace, technology, and hospice industries, and nurse practitioner Tiffany Hughes. Palliative care is often seen as a loss leader, but Fluhart and Hughes saw it as an opportunity.

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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

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

For the time being, Medicare Advantage may be providers’ best bet for palliative care reimbursement. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also allows Medicare Advantage plans to cover palliative care as a supplemental benefit. She is also co-founder of the company’s hospice and home health service segment.

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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 26, 2025

Researchers from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, examined early palliative care billing based on diagnosis codes or hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) specialty codes on outpatient claims. The post Early Palliative Care Spending Rose Over the Last Decade appeared first on Hospice News.

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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 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S.

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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

JANUARY 29, 2025

The two organizations, which have partnered on projects related to critical care hospitals and Medicare beneficiaries, will choose five rural communities in the state with the goal of increasing their capacity to provide palliative care. MCRH launched phase 2 on Jan.

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Hospice News

MAY 28, 2024

payment increase for hospices is insufficient in today’s economic climate, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) indicated in comments on the 2025 proposed payment rule. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in March issued its 2025 proposed hospice rule, which if finalized would include a 2.6%

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Hospice News

APRIL 9, 2024

Reimbursement for community-based palliative care is gaining ground in the Medicare Advantage realm. Palliative care is among the wide range of supplemental benefits that exist within the Medicare Advantage payment landscape. This is a rise from 180 MA plans in 2023 offering palliative services and 64 MA plans in 2020.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. He cited a goal to work with Medicare, Medicaid and Medicare Advantage programs in varied ways that improve health outcomes for beneficiaries. Some hospice industry stakeholders have welcomed the HHS Secretarys appointment.

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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 14, 2025

The Washington-based provider offers adult and pediatric hospice, palliative care, grief support and senior living services. Potential is mounting for deeper integration of palliative care delivery across the continuum, with some health care settings better poised than others for evolving opportunities.

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Hospice News

MARCH 21, 2025

The hospice industry is undergoing a transformative period of rising demand and regulatory changes. Levy recently sat down with Hospice News to discuss the array of regulatory and legislative evolutions on the horizon in hospice care delivery. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)] and Congress.

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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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