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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. The clearest example of how this works was the 2020 rebasing of payments for the four levels of hospice care.

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How an Advance Care Planning Bill Could Impact Hospice and Medicare

Hospice News

and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the Improving Access to Advance Care Planning Act to the Senate designed to promote greater access to those services among Medicare beneficiaries. Racial and socioeconomic disparities also exist when it comes to hospice referrals and quality of care. million, Grant told Hospice News.

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St. Croix Expands in Illinois, Acquires Lexington Hospice Care

Hospice News

Croix Hospice has acquired Lombard, Ill.-based based Lexington Hospice Care. In addition to a spate of acquisitions, the Minnesota-based hospice provider has launched three de novos thus far in 2022. Geographically, Lexington Hospice Care fits nicely into St. Financial terms were undisclosed. The post St.

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MedPAC to Congress: Freeze Hospice Rates in 2025

Hospice News

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended to Congress a freeze on hospice payment increases starting in 2025. In its annual report to Congress, MedPAC urged policymakers to eliminate hospice base-rate increases for 2025. The 2021 aggregated Medicare hospice margin was 13.3%, according to MedPAC.

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CMS May Be Mulling Changes to the Hospice Benefit

Hospice News

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2025 proposed hospice rule contained requests for information (RFIs) that could signal changes in the agency’s thinking on key issues. Through RFIs, CMS tries to take the pulse of providers’ positions on certain questions that could impact the Medicare Hospice Benefit.

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MA Beneficiaries More Likely than Fee-for-Service Patients to Enter Hospice from Community Setting

Hospice News

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. .” Years prior to 2018 showed similar patterns.

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HAP Foundation, NORC: Structural Racism Impedes Access to Hospice, Palliative Care

Hospice News

.” For the study, researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with Black Americans 18 and older who suffer from a serious illness and their caregivers, producing a number of key findings: Knowledge of palliative and hospice care varied among participants. Access to hospice and palliative care is perceived as lacking.