Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2023

With wages, salaries and associated costs rising nationwide , hospices are straining under the weight. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed 2.8% While some hospice companies have reported hiring and capacity gains in recent months, often driven by bonus programs, the problem persists for many providers.

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Hospice News

JULY 3, 2023

The practice appears to stem from a rash of newly licensed hospices that have emerged in California, Nevada, Texas and Arizona. Some of these providers have secured licenses, as well as Medicare certification and, sometimes, accreditation. In that time frame, Nevada saw 56 newly certified hospices, and 369 emerged in Texas.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

A federal judge has sentenced Jesus Virlar-Cadena, formerly a medical director for the Texas-based hospice company Merida Group, to 50 months in prison for his role in a $152 million scheme. The Justice Department accused Virlar-Cadena of personally certifying more than $18 million in fraudulent hospice claims. “In

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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. The move comes nearly a year after California-based Guaranteed launched in August 2022, when founder and CEO Jessica McGlory began her own provider company two years after her father passed away.

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Hospice News

APRIL 6, 2023

Kevin Sarkisyan, of San Gabriel Hospice & Palliative Care, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government for his involvement in submitting false enrollment applications to Medicare that hid the “real owners of a hospice company,” according to court documents.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Karen Sarkisyan, Gayk Akhsharumov, and Babken Chalkadryan, of San Gabriel Hospice & Palliative Care and Broadway Hospice were each charged in the U.S The Justice Department is now investigating allegations of widespread fraud in how some of those funds were used, as well as possible instances involving the Provider Relief Fund.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 12, 2022

Hospices and Accountable Care Organizations have the ability to customize payment contracts within the Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH) program. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is replacing the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) model with ACO REACH. Effective Jan.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

(NYSE: EHAB) is continuing to mull over a potential sale, with executives providing few details as the company determines its next steps. The Dallas-based home health and hospice company has been digging into a strategic review process since August that could result in a possible sale or merger of some or all of its assets. “As

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

Also on the table is the question of how to meet the needs of Medicare beneficiaries who increasingly seek to receive care in their homes, according to Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Director Elizabeth Fowler. “In Going forward, this could mean greater collaboration with private-sector payers and providers. .

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Hospice News

AUGUST 22, 2022

Rumors that the company would come up for sale began circulating earlier this month following reports from the Wall Street Journal, which also reported that Amazon was in the running as a buyer. None of the companies are commenting to the media about a potential sale or bids.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 19, 2023

Four national hospice and senior care industry groups have called on Congress and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make regulatory and legislative changes to instill stronger program integrity safeguards. The Hospice Program Integrity plan lists 34 recommendations that center around five key areas.

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Hospice News

JUNE 26, 2023

This marks Optum’s second purchase of a massive home health and hospice company, as the insurance behemoth continues to beef up its presence in the provider space, including its home-based capabilities. Another factor is the rising tide of Medicare Advantage, particularly on the home health side.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

New rules for changes in hospice ownership are likely to slow down or kill some mergers and acquisitions, according to Ari Markenson, partner at the law firm Venable LLP. Another recently proposed rule would require anyone who holds 5% ownership or more in a hospice must submit to a criminal background check, including fingerprints.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Some hospice company leaders have signaled the labor market may be showing signs of stabilization. For Signify’s likely new parent company, CVS Health, more deal announcements are likely in the next 24 months, particularly in the value-based care and home health arenas, company executives indicated on the bus tour.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

“If you think about how they’ve taken on strains in their capacity, these post-acute services – home health and hospice – they can get patients out of very expensive settings,” Klementz told Hospice News at the Home Care 100 Conference. Among the 1.6 Among the 1.6

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Hospice News

JUNE 22, 2023

SEIU analyzed Medicare claims data showing that the average hospice transfer rate among HCA hospital discharges was nearly 40% above the national average in 2021 and represented a 50% growth rate over four years. For one, hospice utilization has been on a steady upswing nationally for several years. told Hospice News.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 31, 2024

The Texas-based home health and hospice company VitalCaring Group was built largely through acquisitions, and the company expects to step up that strategy in 2024 with an emphasis on hospice. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)] implements that. That keeps me up at night.

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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.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 13, 2022

A coalition of hospice industry organizations recently urged the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to examine the issue and to consider actions like targeted moratoria on licenses. The agency will also implement a hospice program complaint hotline through which the public can report issues to CMS.

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Hospice News

MARCH 8, 2024

The hospice market in Las Vegas has vastly changed with a swell of new providers within the last decade, according to Belloumini. Las Vegas was much different in terms of much lower hospice provider numbers, now in the present day we have something between 150 to 180 hospice companies,” Belluomini told Hospice News.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 21, 2022

Hospices simply did not have enough staff to meet demand, which drove some of them out of business. Executives from almost every publicly traded hospice company raised this issue in earnings calls and presentations throughout the year. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2022

Humana’s two Kindred at Home transactions added notches to the company’s belt as it expands its value-based care portfolio as both a provider and payer. The divestiture fits into Humana’s stated goal of raising its enterprise value by $1 billion , while building out its health care services and Medicare Advantage business.

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NHPCO

JANUARY 19, 2023

The recent entry of large numbers of newly created hospice organizations in several states has heightened long-standing concerns among hospice leaders (as shared with CMS in November 2022) about the adequacy of Medicare certification, accreditation, and enforcement processes.

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Hospice News

JULY 19, 2022

Control of these assets also allows payer organizations to better manage the financial risks that come with the value-based payment models that many expect will overtake traditional Medicare in coming years. hospice company by market share and the leader of a growing for-profit provider based in the Midwest.

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Hospice News

JUNE 23, 2022

Medicare is going to set higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and expect.”. With these factors in mind, a rising number of patients are being cared for by PE-owned hospices. Even President Joe Biden called out PE investors during his State of the Union address this year. “As

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Hospice News

APRIL 19, 2023

Developing an inpatient hospice center has been part of Oasis’ “vision” since the beginning, according to Oasis CEO Sade Bello and Hakeem Bello, director of business development. The faith-based hospice company received Medicare certification in 2015 and primarily serves an urban region around the Chicago area.

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Hospice News

JUNE 16, 2022

You have to have that reverse engineer look at [hospice billing] in the financial model.”. Compared to other health care settings, hospices lack diversity in revenue streams such as private insurers and Medicaid funding. Through the hospice benefit, Medicare covers nearly 90% of a provider’s patient care revenue.

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Hospice News

MARCH 20, 2023

.” – Jim Palazzo, CEO, Transitions Care “I was interested in PACE services just because of the similarity that it has to hospice care and the need that it fills, often for some of the poor folks in a community. Because most of the individuals accessing PACE are going to be Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 19, 2022

There are a lot of home health and hospice companies where the idea is just to get bigger and put more dots on the map. Those are all things that we have to consider, whenever we’re looking at taking a look at somebody we want to fold into the Enhabit team. What kinds of M&A targets are most appealing?

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). With everything that’s changing in the industry right now, I’m more heavily involved in the decision-making with our hospices and how their care plans handle specific situations as they arise each and every day. What has changed the most since you came into the hospice industry?

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Shining Light Hospice

APRIL 3, 2021

In addition to your primary care doctor, you will also have a hospice doctor and a team of medical professionals employed by the hospice company. These include the following: Do you accept my insurance/ Medicaid / Medicare ? Will my coverage pay for all the costs associated with hospice care?

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