Hospice News

MAY 8, 2024

A bill currently before Congress would extend through 2026 regulatory flexibilities related to telehealth, including the ability to recertify patients for hospice care. If a hospice is undergoing a period of enhanced oversight by the U.S. A range of stakeholders in the hospice space have voiced support for the legislation.

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Hospice News

JULY 21, 2023

As federal regulators intensify their focus on hospices, operators may begin seeing an influx of Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) activity. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contracts with RACs to conduct post-payment reviews designed to recover any funds that may have been overspent.

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Hospice News

MAY 27, 2022

Regulators have been zeroing in on longer lengths of stay in hospice, but patients with dementia may be caught in the crossfire. . Two policy changes have corresponded with reductions in hospice enrollment among dementia patients, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Hospice providers will be looking to Congress in 2024 to address issues related to program integrity, quality improvement and industry-wide workforce pressures. As legislative efforts develop, hospices may want to focus their attention on a few key legislators. We don’t have confidence in the algorithm that they proposed.

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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

JULY 3, 2023

and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) recently re-introduced legislation designed to expand the palliative care workforce. The two lawmakers, along with others, also brought forth a second bill designed to ensure that hospice patients who need blood transfusions can receive them. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.)

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Wages for hospice clinicians continue to go up amid widespread staff shortages, but they grew at a slower rate in 2023 compared to the prior year. Nationally, hourly wages for hospice RNs reached $38.08 Nearly 99% of the respondents were Medicare-certified organizations. this year, but geographic variations exist.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 30, 2024

When deprescribing medications for hospice patients, providers have to navigate a complex web of factors. Medication costs are among hospices’ biggest expenses, and deprescribing some medications deemed “curative” or “unrelated” to the patient’s terminal diagnosis is a standard practice. “We Everything is based on cost.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 21, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) forthcoming Special Focus Program (SFP) for hospices. The TEP completed its work late last year, and now, per the 2024 proposed home health rule, the agency wants to move ahead with it in 2024. A coalition of industry groups has spoken out about the design of the U.S.

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Hospice News

APRIL 7, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking answers from the hospice community — including some around utilization patterns and non-hospice spending. The recently proposed 2024 hospice payment rule contained a 2.8% In Fiscal Year 2022, routine home care accounted for 98.8% As many as 72.2%

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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

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

The four largest hospice industry organizations are urging congressional lawmakers to mandate changes to the Special Focus Program (SFP) currently set to begin in 2024. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week issued its 2024 home health payment rule , which contained several hospice provisions.

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NHPCO

JULY 28, 2023

For Immediate Release July 28, 2023 New Research Shows Hospice Produces Better Outcomes, Lower Medicare Costs (Washington, D.C. billion in Medicare savings in 2019, while also providing multiple benefits to patients, families, and caregivers. Hospice made that happen for mom, for me, and my family.”

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The four lawmakers contend that the SFP, as currently designed, would not adequately identify poor performing hospices in need of the program. Nearly 40% of hospices have not been surveyed within the three year timeframe, the agency reported.

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NHPCO

MARCH 21, 2023

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.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 8, 2022

As the hospice community takes its first steps into value-based reimbursement, stakeholders have an opportunity to re-examine elements of the Medicare Hospice Benefit that may be outdated, according to some providers. The hospice benefit became a formal part of Medicare in 1983. Initially, the U.S.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Hospices are seeking greater clarity on updated Medicare rules that allow hospices to document a broader range of chaplain services on claims. While the revisions do not impact reimbursement, they allow hospice providers to track and report the duration, frequency and extent of the spiritual care patients receive.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Offering hospice can be a gamechanger for skilled nursing and assisted living operators looking to stand out from competitors and improve patient reach. Home-based care, including hospice, has become an increasingly attractive space for facility-based health care providers of all walks. Among the 1.6

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Hospice News

JANUARY 18, 2024

Helios Care is working to change the face of hospice in its update New York service region, with a new partnership with the Bassett Healthcare Network as a cornerstone of its strategy. Formerly known as Catskills Area Hospice and Palliative Care, the organization rebranded as Helios in 2019.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 14, 2022

“[Arizona has] a fantastic state government, a Medicaid program that truly aims to support families with intermediaries that share that vision, and a demographic that needs our services,” Jackson told Hospice News in an email. Veterans programs and managed care organizations also have become more involved in the space.

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Hospice News

MARCH 29, 2023

Though evidence shows that longer hospice stays reduce costs, providers are still walking a regulatory tightrope. On one hand, longer hospice stays can lead to improved patient and family satisfaction and greater cost saving opportunities. Are you in an outlier scenario with your data that Medicare contractors are looking at?

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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

DECEMBER 20, 2022

Senate’s Comprehensive Care Caucus have asked federal regulators to examine program integrity within the Medicare Hospice Benefit. Medicare fraud cannot be tolerated, especially when it is being perpetrated on our nation’s most vulnerable patients,” the senators wrote. The four senators wrote to the U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 31, 2024

The Texas-based home health and hospice company VitalCaring Group was built largely through acquisitions, and the company expects to step up that strategy in 2024 with an emphasis on hospice. The company, which also offers pediatric and companion care, has also opened a few de novos and has more planned for this year.

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Hospice News

MARCH 8, 2023

High valuations have led Addus HomeCare (NASDAQ: ADUS) to pivot towards personal care and home health deals rather than hospice acquisitions. Hospice multiples broke records in 2020, 2021 and 2022, reaching as high as 29x. Hospice is still very expensive. Addus began as a personal care provider in 1979.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 11, 2023

Hospices should be required to report all instances of abuse and neglect, even if the perpetrator was not an employee, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires operators to report incidents of patient abuse and neglect that involve their staff. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

While the hospice community has generally embraced the concept of a Special Focus Program (SFP) to address quality concerns, some are troubled by the government’ methodology for identifying providers. About a quarter of them don’t report HCI data,” Atkins told Hospice News. “A

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 22, 2022

These cover the innovative partnerships, new technologies, pediatric care, health equity and other key developments in the hospice space. Pandemic Pushes Death Doula Awareness, Hospices Seek Strengthened Ties. In 2019, the organization had just 200 members.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

Regulatory attention heating up in the hospice industry could be impacting buyers’ decisions/how buyers move forward with mergers and acquisitions in the space. The nuances involved in the regulatory environment around hospice can be difficult to navigate for private equity and venture capital investors that are new to the industry.

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Hospice News

JUNE 15, 2022

An overwhelming majority of hospice providers have seen costs of patient care rise 3% to 10% since 2019, and many expect further increases next year. This is prompting calls for Medicare to reconsider proposed 2023 reimbursement rates. . The hospice advocacy group NHPCO is now asking the U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 2, 2023

The possibility exists that hospice care will change more in the next few years than it has during the previous four decades. The Medicare Hospice Benefit turned 40-years-old in 2022, and in that time the program has remained fundamentally unchanged.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 30, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed 2024 home health rule includes plans to implement a hospice Special Focus Program, but some stakeholders contend that some aspects are flawed. Hospices flagged by the SFP would be surveyed every six months rather than the current three-year cycle.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Hospices stand to benefit from bridging divides in the care continuum, including filling gaps between home health and end-of-life providers, according to Eddie Norris, managing partner at Canyon Home Care & Hospice. LLC and also picked up Utah-based Uintah Home and Hospice. Dallman, M.D.,

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 4, 2022

Only 10 new Medicare Advantage (MA) plans will offer home-based palliative care as a primarily health-related benefit for 2023, but payers may be offering those services through other programs. ” Through Medicare Advantage, the U.S. “I wouldn’t read too much into it. The carve-in launched Jan.

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Hospice News

JUNE 16, 2022

More hospitals and health systems are stepping into the home-based hospice space, often seeing joint ventures as a promising route to a return on their investment. In part, the trend of more hospitals and health systems in hospice is a response to growing demand and strain on acute care services. NASDAQ: AMED).

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NHPCO

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Alexandria, Va ) – An article on the hospice industry published by ProPublica on November 28 ( Endgame: How the Visionary Hospice Movement Became a For-Profit Hustle ), 2022, gives readers an inaccurate view of the Medicare hospice benefit, a uniquely person-centered program that brought comfort to 1.7 November 30, 2022.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 16, 2024

For New Day, it meant a new way of thinking about home-based care delivery, driven by technology, non-traditioal investment strategies and extension of those principles across the home-based care continuum. New Day Health Care started in mid-2020, the middle of COVID at what seemed to be a peak of uncertainty.

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