Hospice News

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Canon Healthcare was a New Orleans-based hospice provider that also served the Baton Rouge and Covington, Louisiana, markets, as well as parts of Mississippi. Between 2013 and 2016, the company billed Medicare for $62 million and received $47 million in payments, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 14, 2023

Among those demos is the Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM), which ran between 2016 and 2021. Community-based palliative care has the potential to improve end-of-life care and Medicare program costs.” Palliative care also decreased ED visits by 14% and inpatient admissions by 26% while boosting hospice enrollment by 29%.

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Hospice News

APRIL 29, 2022

The Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in has been the focus of much attention among providers, and many are watching closely for the demonstration’s outcomes. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the MCCM in 2016 to explore the idea of allowing hospice patients to receive concurrent curative care.

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Hospice News

APRIL 5, 2024

Patients in assisted living-based memory care facilities have higher mortality rates and are more likely to enroll in hospice, a new study indicates. million hospice recipients were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, 6.8% Hospice utilization was 8% and 10.6% Hospice utilization was 8% and 10.6% of the nation’s 1.7

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Program integrity issues that have heated up in the hospice space during the past five years reached a boiling point in 2023. Hospice providers have seen an array of increased regulatory oversight in 2023. There is scrutiny on hospice care [that’s] setting the stage for the next phase of what hospice oversight looks like.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Residential Hospice has acquired Illinois-based Safe Haven Hospice from the senior living provider Christian Horizons for an undisclosed sum. More than 57,000 Illinois residents enrolled in hospice during 2021, a utilization rate of about 47%, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 1, 2022

Gavin Newsom (D) recently approved legislation that expands upon last years’ moves to strengthen hospice oversight in the state, among other enforcement actions. The bills — Senate Bill 664 and Assembly Bill 1280 — followed a Los Angeles Times investigation into alleged misconduct among hospice providers statewide. California Gov.

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Hospice News

APRIL 6, 2023

Two hospice fraud cases are moving forward in California and Arizona, states that some stakeholders consider to be potential hotbeds of malfeasance in the space. False Claims Act violations in California San Gabriel Hospice & Palliative Care submitted roughly $3.67 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, of which $3.18

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Hospice News

APRIL 17, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) review and appeals process, according to CEO Greg Hagfors. The case has significance for hospice providers nationwide as CMS and its contractors continue to ramp up audits. OIG, on behalf of CMS, informed the hospice that it would be audited in a May 2018 letter.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 24, 2023

Increased hospice oversight aimed at curbing fraud in the industry could come with a mixed bag of financial and operational impacts for providers. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has honed in on hospice program integrity, rolling out a swath of new measures to reduce fraud, waste and abuse in the space.

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2023

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and 59 bipartisan co-sponsors have reintroduced legislation that would expand Medicare coverage of telehealth and make permanent flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Congress has extended hospices’ ability to do recertifications via telehealth through Dec. Ben Cardin (D-Md.),

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Hospice News

JULY 10, 2023

As health care stakeholders work to improve care coordination, more hospices are exploring home-based primary care. Organizations that are delivering hospice and palliative care now are looking to the future and wanting to provide more of a full-service solution for seriously ill patients,” Singleton told Hospice News.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries are more likely to enroll in hospice from a community setting than patients in traditional fee-for-service programs. million patients who elected hospice in the last 90 days of life during the years 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2018. This is close to half of all Medicare beneficiaries.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Guaranteed’s New SVP of Growth, Strategy Tech-enabled hospice startup Guaranteed has named Ryan Malone as its new senior vice president of growth and strategy. Previously, he was head of growth at Mavencare, and served in sales manager and director roles at Hometeam from 2013 to 2016. The funding follows a $6.5

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Hospice providers are increasingly focused on memory care settings and physician offices as referral sources. Though many hospices see facility-based care as their primary referral engines, a growing base of providers are seeking ties to community-based organizations to increase access and utilization this year.

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Hospice News

MARCH 27, 2023

Hospice providers in facility-based settings may be underutilizing Medicare’s service intensity add-on (SIA). 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.

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Hospice News

APRIL 28, 2023

When it comes to value-based payment models, home health has a head start on hospice. But those providers’ experiences can lend some insights into how hospices can prepare themselves. Hospices are only now taking their first steps into value-based reimbursement.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 1, 2024

As hospice providers build out a larger continuum of health care services, some are taking a close look at the primary care space. The term “upstream” has become a watchword in hospice. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)] believes that primary care is going to be the answer to this fragmented care problem.

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Hospice News

JULY 25, 2022

A federal court has sentenced Liana Karapetyan, former co-owner of California-based ANG Health Care, Excel Hospice, and Excel Home Healthcare, to 18 years in prison for hospice fraud and anti-kickback violations. Atoyan was co-owner of the hospice and home health businesses and has pled guilty for his role in the scheme. “In

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Hospice News

JULY 11, 2022

A group of 17 Illinois health care organizations is collaborating to expand access to home-based primary care, including a number of hospice and palliative care providers. million seniors who reside in Illinois are 85 or older, and 40% of Medicare beneficiaries in the state have four or more chronic conditions, according to HCCI.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 17, 2024

A recent study examined results of the company’s Total Care Model for patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage or Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH). Founded in 2016, agilon health, inc. The findings appeared in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

Closing these gaps is a rising priority in payment model demonstrations by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). The work being done at CMMI has a direct impact on hospice providers. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The center is a component of the U.S.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2023

The report did not contain hospice-specific data. “In From 2016 through 2019, the average share was 17.5%. Spending by Medicare, hospice’s principal payer, accounted for 21% of the total national expenditures, hitting $944.3 Growth in Medicare spending also dropped to 5.9% billion in 2022. in 2022, down from 7.2%

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

NYSE: HCA) and the University of Central Florida (UCF) recently added a new graduate fellowship in hospice and palliative care medicine to their existing repertoire of training programs. Demand for culturally diverse hospice and palliative care in Florida is growing as minority aging populations swell. Utah held the highest rate at 60.5%

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

For terminally ill patients who lack secure housing or loved ones to care for them, hospice is typically not an option. These are generally nonprofit residential facilities that will give patients a place to stay while they receive hospice care. So many people that needed to access hospice care that couldn’t get it.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 4, 2022

has acquired Trio Home Health Care and Hospice, growing its reach in the Lone Star State, which is a key focus area for the company. This latest acquisition fills our quest to expand our geographic footprint within our primary service areas,” said Jet Health CEO Stace Bratcher in a statement shared with Hospice News.

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Hospice News

JUNE 22, 2023

Recent allegations that staff at HCA Healthcare (NYSE: HCA) put pressure on patients to enter hospice dovetail with longstanding questions over how and when patients should be referred. SEIU benchmarked HCA’s hospice transfer rates against national data. million Medicare beneficiaries elected the benefit in 2021, up from 1.43

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

Given the critical role of family caregivers in home-based care, hospices have a vested interest in expanding their access to support. And while hospices offer social workers and spiritual care, many families continue to have unmet needs that could impede some patients’ access to hospice.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 30, 2022

Michigan-headquartered Residential Hospice has acquired Comfort Hospice in Missouri and Grace Hospice in Ohio for undisclosed amounts. Residential purchased the two hospices from health care company U.S. Medical Management will retain its hospice locations outside of St. Hospice utilization in Missouri reached 50.2%

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Hospice News

JANUARY 27, 2023

Hospices should be paying close attention to effective development and adherence to care plans when it comes to compliance in 2023. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has implemented significant changes to the hospice survey process effective Jan.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 19, 2024

Hospices and other post-acute health care providers lag behind hospitals and ambulatory settings when it comes to electronic health record (EMR) interoperability. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), a federal agency designed to foster greater health care interoperability.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 4, 2022

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) is developing new reimbursement pathways for palliative care. As part of that process, CMMI is applying elements of its Medicare Care Choices Model (MCCM) demonstration, which ended Dec. MCCM was designed to test the impact of concurrent hospice and curative care.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

The health care system, in both private and public settings, that is engaged with financing, managing, and providing palliative and hospice care must directly address the issue of racism, discrimination, and disparities, particularly among marginalized underserved non-Hispanic Blacks,” authors stated in the study.

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Hospice News

JULY 7, 2022

The depletion of a family’s financial resources is a greater predictor of aggressive treatment at the end of life than patient preferences or demographic factors, a 2016 study concluded. of Medicare Advantage individual plans offered the general supports benefit, as well as only 10.3% Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

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Hospice News

JUNE 27, 2022

Social and economic factors like these drive 40% of health outcomes, according to the Better Medicare Alliance. The interdisciplinary nature of palliative care, especially the inclusion of social workers, positions palliative care nicely to help to address the myriad needs that people have,” Maxwell told Hospice News.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

A recent court decision in a False Claims Act (FCA) case involving hospice provider Care Alternatives may set a precedent that could influence similar cases. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in 2016. Additional allegations of hospice fraud came the following year in November 2009, when the U.S.

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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. Across 150 different studies, white adults represented nearly two-thirds (65.1%) of roughly 800,000 individuals who had completed advance directives between 2011 and 2016.

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