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‘Upgrading’ the Medicare Hospice Benefit

Hospice News

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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Medicare Advantage Transparency Efforts Could Impact Hospices

Hospice News

Subscribe to Palliative Care News today ! Recent efforts to increase transparency within Medicare Advantage may impact hospice reimbursement. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released a Request for Information (RFI) on ways to improve data sharing and increasing transparency in Medicare Advantage.

Medicare 258
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Longer Hospice Stays Lead to Larger Medicare Cost Savings

Hospice News

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%

Medicare 341
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Medicare Making Fewer Improper Payments to Hospices

Hospice News

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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CMS: Concurrent Hospice Care Improves Quality, Reduces Costs

Hospice News

Allowing patients to receive concurrent hospice and curative care reduces health care costs and improves quality. We really didn’t find subgroups that were not benefiting from the model,” Kranker told Hospice News. “We Enrolled patients were also more likely to transition to the traditional Medicare Hospice Benefit.

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Hospice Leaders: Change Must Come to the Medicare Hospice Benefit

Hospice News

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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Preventing Adverse Drug Events in Hospice Care

Hospice News

Documentation errors and a fragmented health system pose the greatest risks for adverse drug events among hospices. McPherson also serves on the board of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM). They also need to know which side effects are more concerning and should prompt a call to the hospice.”

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