Hospice News

JANUARY 23, 2025

As we look at diversity, language barriers and being more inclusive, were doing a better job of providing Medicare beneficiaries with more care. For example, we try to buy vehicles for our nurses, home health aides, social workers and chaplains. From a cost standpoint, paying for that mileage is very expensive.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 26, 2022

Medicare reimbursement is the lifeblood of hospice providers, and a clear understanding of policies like budget neutrality can help elucidate the payment systems that keep their businesses running. But a similar move within the Medicare Hospice Benefit is unlikely. Though the is not yet final, the proposal included a 4.2%

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Hospice News

JULY 13, 2023

Hospices’ cost-savings potential A study published in March revealed that hospice saved Medicare roughly $3.5 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been zeroing in on long lengths of stay as a potential red flag, one that could suggest a hospice admitted someone who was not truly eligible.

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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.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have introduced a bill designed to foster greater access to advance care planning (ACP) among Medicare beneficiaries. The new bipartisan legislation would allow clinical social workers to provide ACP services if they possess a relevant certification or are experienced in conducting care planning conversations.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 23, 2022

One is how can we continue to diversify our services and help more people in more ways — and second, looking at how we can reduce our dependence on Medicare reimbursement. One of the things that we’re doing also is launch our new program on social isolation and loneliness with the frail elderly. So what do we do?

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Hospice News

JANUARY 5, 2023

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently reported the results of its audit of advance care planning (ACP) billing practices among Medicare-certified physicians and other health care providers. Between 2016 to 2019, Medicare payouts for ACP totaled more than $340 million, OIG reported.

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Hospice News

JUNE 15, 2023

After more than a decade working in hospice leadership, Alli Collins came across something she had never seen before — a financially viable, all-volunteer provider that is not Medicare-certified. I’ve spent well over a decade in the Medicare-certified side of the world. She never instituted a Medicare provider number.

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Hospice News

MARCH 14, 2024

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. Social worker visits in the last days of life also rose to 9% in 2021, up from 7% in 2020. In 2019, for example, the percentage was 66%.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

The Improving Access to Advance Care Planning Act would expand utilization of these services by removing Medicare payment barriers faced by both providers and patients. The bill proposes to “wave,” or remove, Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing for advance care planning services. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Warner (D-Va.)

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Hospice News

MARCH 23, 2023

On the patient side, Medicare beneficiaries face out-of-pocket costs when advance care planning is performed in any setting outside of an annual wellness visit. Currently, this includes only physicians, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners, along with clinical social workers. “If

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 19, 2022

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed new approaches for enforcing hospice regulations that will become effective on Jan. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed new approaches for enforcing hospice regulations that will become effective on Jan. During late 2021 and 2022, the U.S.

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High Peaks Hospice

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

High Peaks Hospice has an immediate opening for a Hospice Social Worker in our northern catchment area. As a member of the Hospice interdisciplinary team, the primary focus of the Social Worker is to respond to the emotional and psychological needs of the patients, their families, and hospice staff. 454 Glen street.

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Hospice News

APRIL 3, 2024

The cost of these services facilitated by a registered nurse was $395 per caregiver, compared to $337 and $585 if offered by a social worker or nurse practitioner, respectively. When TCM is offered on its own, the mean Medicare reimbursement ranged between $260 and $322 and $260 for families with moderate or high complexity patients.

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Hospice News

MARCH 22, 2024

The palliative care program works on a medical model that is led by physicians and nurse practitioners who do home visits, and other services such as social workers and chaplains available as needed, based on the patient’s care plan, according to Krejs.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

However, efforts to fill that gap in care often struggle due to limited reimbursement, primarily managed through Medicare fee-for-service, Gentiva COO Nick Stengle said in a panel discussion at the Home Care 100 Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. We’re not charging Medicare for a visit.

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Hospice News

MARCH 27, 2023

Researchers analyzed 2020 claims data to identify associations between SIA utilization and hospice Medicare beneficiaries’ characteristics such as site of service, level of care and length of stay, among others. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced SIA in 2016.

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Hospice News

JUNE 27, 2022

Social determinants are non-medical needs that can have a significant impact on the trajectory of patients’ health, such as nutrition, transportation, social or caregiver support, and housing, among others. Social and economic factors like these drive 40% of health outcomes, according to the Better Medicare Alliance.

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Hospice News

JUNE 30, 2022

Patients have already begun receiving care through EdenHospice, which is currently awaiting Medicare certification. The EdenHospice team includes a hospice physician, director of nursing, chaplain, social worker, aides and volunteers. Hospice utilization among Medicare decedents in Texas reached 52.1%

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GeriPal

JANUARY 16, 2025

And importantly, our social worker, Aunt Kelly, actually does a search and I would say 75% of the time she finds somebody maybe even higher than that, finds somebody who’s actually a surrogate. To have a social worker who’s dedicated in many places. What’s your next step? And ideally at other times too.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Since at least 2022, Contessa has been pursuing palliative care reimbursement through Medicare Advantage. Earlier this year, the Amedisys subsidiary entered into its first full-risk Medicare Advantage contract to include palliative care with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee.

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Hospice News

JUNE 1, 2022

Hospice and palliative care need greater recognition among disciplines across the board, beyond medicine and nursing, according to Eunju Lee, palliative care social worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule calling for a 2.7%

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Payment streams for palliative care, most palliative programs are relying on a combination of Medicare Part B and grants and fundraising,” Schramm said. Social workers and chaplains provide services on a PRN basis, Gerke said. A key aspect of this is expanding geographic scale. That would be way too difficult to manage.”

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Hospice News

AUGUST 12, 2024

The Virginia-based nonprofit capitalized the program largely through philanthropic donations Participants in the program will receive preventative, primary, acute and long-term health and personal care services, including social activities. Investing in PACE programs has benefits for hospices, but also comes with risks.

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Hospice News

MAY 29, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) may not have accounted for the financial and administrative burdens associated with its implementation of the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) Tool.

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Hospice News

JULY 20, 2022

Payers, including Medicare, like to see providers reduce the costs of care. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reimbursed palliative care through a fee-for-service model that only covers physician and licensed independent practitioner services, rather than the full range of interdisciplinary care.

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Hospice News

MARCH 10, 2025

The support that Calvary has with the staff onsite whether its the nurses or the clinicians, the social workers, the chaplains everybody is sensitive to what patients and families are going through. They do their best to make sure that theyre providing the care thats best for the patients and the emotional support for the family.

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Hospice News

JULY 9, 2024

HarmonyCares offers palliative care, home-based primary care, home health, hospice, radiology and other services to more than 70,000 patients in 15 states through value-based partnerships with Medicare Advantage plans and Accountable Care Organizations.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 8, 2024

The hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID) will sunset at the end of this year, but opportunities for payment through Medicare Advantage and other models remain. The component was designed to test coverage of hospice through Medicare Advantage. So there are certainly mechanisms for payment and reimbursement.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 24, 2024

They also envision opportunities to reform the Medicare Hospice Benefit and diversify their scope of services. Brubaker Miller entered the field as a social worker in 1993 and has held leadership positions at hospice organizations for the last 14 years. There’s a lot of unknown changes in Medicare.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Around this time last year, the company also began contracting directly with Medicare Advantage payers, beginning with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee. That model is a mix of in-person and virtual visits, nurse practitioners, RNs, social workers and community health workers,” Baumgardner said at the NHPCO conference. “I

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Hospice News

AUGUST 4, 2023

The unit includes an interdisciplinary care team with physicians, advanced practice providers and social workers who will deliver the same level of care that a patient would receive in their home or a clinical office, according to Liesl Vale, marketing coordinator for Four Seasons.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Medicare Advantage organization SCAN Group has invested an undisclosed dollar amount in tech-enabled hospice startup Guaranteed. Guaranteed currently serves Medicare and Medicaid patients across five counties in southern California, including the Los Angeles region.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 4, 2023

Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is contributing to the company’s optimism. The 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 who completed at least 12 months of employment. This, in tandem with a 3.1%

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Hospice News

APRIL 22, 2022

Volunteers, social workers, chaplains and bereavement counselors also make up the center’s staff. among Medicare decedents, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. The Sunshine State in 2018 ranked third nationwide for hospice utilization at 57.9% Only Utah and Arizona saw higher rates at 59.4%

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Hospice News

MAY 4, 2022

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reimbursed palliative care through a fee-for-service model that only covers physician and licensed independent practitioner services, rather than the full range of interdisciplinary care. They also must become adept at negotiating with payers, such as Medicare Advantage plans.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 2, 2023

William Collinge, associate director of the Integrative Palliative Care Institute in Washington, said most palliative care organizations evolved as basic, mainstream medical care provided by doctors, nurses and social workers. Collinge said there are a number of patients on Medicare, which pays for some complementary therapies.

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