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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. Part of the problem is that the [Medicare] Hospice Benefit is 40 plus years old. of terminal diagnoses in 2020, while cancer accounted for 7.2%.

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Medicare Claims for Unrelated Services Put Hospices at Risk

Hospice News

Medicare claims for unrelated services creates serious financial and legal risks for hospice providers — even if they are not the ones who sent the bill. During recent years, payouts for non-hospice services provided to Medicare beneficiaries have tipped into the billions. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Home Health Care Linked to Increased Hospice Utilization

Hospice News

The study , published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, examined home health and hospice care outcomes during the last three years of life among more than 2.1 million Medicare decedents who died in 2019. used home health care and 63.3% Of those with dementia, 54.8% utilized hospice. Of the nearly 1.2

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Helios Care Partners with Bassett Healthcare to Expand Hospice, Palliative Services

Hospice News

Our shared approaches to serving patients advocate for care with the highest quality of life possible, including in-home services for patients with chronic illnesses and home-based end-of-life care.” Formerly known as Catskills Area Hospice and Palliative Care, the organization rebranded as Helios in 2019.

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Dementia Patients Less Likely Than Others to Receive Hospice Care

Hospice News

Patients with dementia are less likely to receive hospice in their last month of life than those who have other diagnoses, 12.5% The Medicare Hospice Benefit initially was designed around the needs of cancer patients, but now the number of patients with other diagnoses is growing — some with less predictable disease patterns.

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New Research Shows Hospice Care Reduces Medicare Costs

NHPCO

For Immediate Release March 22, 2023 New Research Shows Hospice Care Reduces Medicare Costs Hospice Care Contributed to $3.5 billion in savings for Medicare in 2019, while providing multiple benefits to patients, families, and caregivers. Hospice stays of six months or more result in savings for Medicare.

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Senators Propose Bills to Expand Hospice Training, Ensure Access to Transfusions

Hospice News

Rosen and Murkowski, initially tried to pass the palliative care training bill in 2019, and then again 2021. The Improving Access to Transfusion Care for Hospice Patients Act would create a payment model for blood transfusion services within the Medicare Hospice Benefit. This is not the bill’s first iteration.

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