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VA Study Finds 95% Increase in Palliative Care Utilization When Patients Have Access to Social Workers

Hospice News

Patients are more likely to receive palliative care if they can access social workers through their primary care providers, Veterans Health Administration (VA) research has found. These findings suggest that social workers may increase access to and/or use of palliative care.”.

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How Medicare Budget Neutrality Impacts Hospice Payment

Hospice News

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. An earlier version of budget neutrality was phased out in 2016. But a similar move within the Medicare Hospice Benefit is unlikely.

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Hospices Stepping Up Performance on Visits-in-Last-Days-of-Life Measure

Hospice News

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. CMS introduced SIA in 2016.

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How Hospice and Palliative Care of the Wood River Valley Built a Collaborative Care Model Without Medicare Certification

Hospice News

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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Advance Care Planning Billing Rules Impede Equitable Access

Hospice News

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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Facility-Bound Hospice Patients Less Likely to Get SIA Visits

Hospice News

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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Guaranteed Taps SVP of Strategic Growth; Nurses Step Into C-Suite at Hospice of the Piedmont, Hudson Valley Hospice

Hospice News

Previously, he was head of growth at Mavencare, and served in sales manager and director roles at Hometeam from 2013 to 2016. Its technology platform connects patients and family members to palliative and hospice nurses, social workers, spiritual coordinators and other interdisciplinary staff.

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