Hospice News

MARCH 4, 2024

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will end the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID) as of Dec. Often called the “hospice carve-in,” the program was designed to test coverage of hospice care through Medicare Advantage, in addition to some coverage of palliative care and transitional care.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 15, 2022

The unique needs of families and children facing life-limiting can wear pediatric palliative and hospice care clinicians especially thin, and the potential for burnout can leave providers even more short-staffed than many already are. Even outside of hospice, caring for seriously ill children can take a mental and emotional toll.

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Hospice News

APRIL 3, 2024

New Day Healthcare Appoints EVP of Hospice Texas-based New Day Healthcare recently promoted Debbie Weber to senior executive vice president of hospice operations. Weber ascended to the role after serving as vice president of operations for hospice at Phoenix Home Care & Hospice, a New Day Healthcare company.

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Hospice News

MAY 13, 2024

Research trends can help hospice providers improve their understanding around the impacts of their services and where quality gaps may exist. Their research found that coordinated telehealth visits with hospice interdisciplinary staff helped ease care transitions among young adults and children.

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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. Before joining Guaranteed, Malone served as vice president of sales and partnerships at mental health provider Thriveworks since 2021. Carl Derrick as medical director.

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Hospice News

MARCH 23, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is extending the value-based insurance design demonstration for calendar years 2025 to 2030, including the hospice component. The hospice component of VBID, also called the MA carve-in, launched in 2021 and was originally slated to complete after four years.

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Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary also project that health care expenditures will represent 19.6% of the nation’s gross domestic product by the end of that time frame, up from slightly more than 18% in 2021. The report, published today in Health Affairs , did not contain hospice-specific data.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 12, 2024

The prospect of stagnated per diems would be woeful news for hospice providers that are facing widespread wage increases along with inflation and other costs, according to Bill Dombi, president of the National Association for Home Health and Hospice (NAHC). increase to keep pace with inflation. “At

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Hospice News

JANUARY 3, 2023

It would have prohibited the establishment of for-profit hospices in New York state and forbid current for-profit operators from increasing capacity. . Data suggest that hospice care is underutilized in New York compared to other states, straining other elements of the health care system,” Hochul wrote in her veto.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) recently awarded the company a certificate of need (CON) to begin offering hospice services in that region. The company already offers home care services in that county. We provide the full scope of hospice care. Hernando-Pasco Hospice, Inc.

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Hospice News

JULY 14, 2023

Paul Mastrapa becomes CEO of Interim HealthCare Jennifer Sheets is out as CEO of Interim HealthCare and Caring Brands International. Paul Mastrapa, former CEO of Help at Home, will succeed her. Mastrapa since 2021 has been an advisor and consultant to multiple health care companies. Gerard wrote on LinkedIn Monday.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Lawmakers have an essential role in ensuring the viability of the Medicare Hospice Benefit, according to Davis Baird, director for government affairs for hospice at the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC). He also wrote some sections of the Affordable Care Act.

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Hospice News

MARCH 10, 2023

Croix provides hospice to nearly 4,000 patients daily across the Midwest. The hospice promoted Eric Lewis to chief accounting officer, who joined St. Croix in 2021 as vice president and controller. Most recently the hospice opened a de novo in Wisconsin, its 14th location in that state. “We

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Each of the major national hospice industry organizations voiced concerns about the algorithm that CMS will use beginning in 2024, including LeadingAge, the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NHPI), the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

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Hospice News

MARCH 29, 2023

In 2020, the average length of stay for Medicare patients enrolled in hospice was 97.0 days, according to a report from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). However, those numbers fell by nearly five days in 2021 to 92.1, Regardless of length of stay, hospice care saves Medicare roughly $3.5

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Hospice News

AUGUST 21, 2023

Commonly called the hospice carve-in, MAOs that have participated since the program’s launch in 2021 can now offer beneficiaries incentives to use their plans’ in-network providers. And that’s a big concern when it comes to hospice care.” On the risk side, [it’s] worrying about the commoditization of hospice care.

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Hospice News

JUNE 9, 2023

Increasingly, both policymakers and providers are seeing potential opportunities to reform the Medicare Hospice Benefit, including the prospect of concurrent care. Driving these conversations is the need to lighten the nation’s heavy health care spend, which in 2021 reached $4.3 trillion , according to the U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 20, 2023

The deal expands Eden Health’s home health and hospice footprint in Washington, one of eight states in its service region. The home health, hospice and palliative care provider operates 36 locations and serves roughly 1,540 patients annual. Established in 1977, CHHH has an average daily census of 600 patients.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 16, 2024

-based Niagara Hospice will soon have a new president and CEO with the upcoming retirement of John Lomeo, who has led the organization since 2000. Niagara Hospice is part of The Hospice and Palliative Care Group (HPCG), an organization that provides administrative services. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 25, 2023

Kentucky-based Hosparus Health is poised for expansion — through joint ventures, new investments in its palliative care program and the forthcoming launch of a PACE center. The nonprofit hospice provider’s subsidiary — Care Guide Partners — has applied to the U.S.

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Hospice News

JULY 13, 2022

More than a dozen hospice advocacy groups have called on congressional leadership to intervene in a proposed 2.7% This proposal ultimately jeopardizes the ability of hospices to continue providing access to appropriate, high-quality care to all Americans who need it,” the letter indicated. with no sign of slowing down.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 17, 2022

As with other demographic groups, hospice utilization among Hispanic, Latino and Latinx populations is low in comparison to Caucasians. Latino patients are more likely to die without receiving hospice care or even information about these services, the report indicated. “We Hispanics made up 6.7%

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Hospice News

AUGUST 26, 2022

The clearest example of how this works was the 2020 rebasing of payments for the four levels of hospice care. CMS that year reduced routine home care (RHC) rates by 2.7% and increased amounts for continuous home care, general inpatient care, and inpatient respite care by the same percentage.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

The organization has grown its patient census and geographic reach under Whitaker’s leadership, citing a “234% increase” in the number of patients accessing care across all of its service lines in the announcement, as well as expanded services into four new counties.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 4, 2023

The four lawmakers contend that the SFP, as currently designed, would not adequately identify poor performing hospices in need of the program. Congress mandated the SFP in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 , which contained language from the Helping Our Senior Population in Comfort Environments (HOSPICE) Act.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 13, 2022

Signatories on the joint letter included LeadingAge, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), and the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). For some, the costs have been “ astronomical.”.

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Hospice News

MAY 26, 2022

Above & Beyond has provided home health and hospice care across eastern Iowa since 2004. Its home care services include nursing, and physical occupational and speech therapies, among others. Hospice utilization runs high in Iowa compared to other states. Utah held the highest rate that year at 60.5%.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

. — Nick Westfall, CEO, VITAS Healthcare Earlier access and longer hospice stays can reduce health care costs in the last year of life by as much as 11%, a recent joint report found from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and NORC at the University of Chicago.

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Hospice News

APRIL 7, 2023

” One key set of data pertains to the utilization of continuous home care (CHC), general inpatient care (GIP) and inpatient respite care (IRC). Despite rebasing payment rates for the higher levels of care, there still remains a high percentage of hospices that provide little to no CHC, IRC, or GIP.”

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Hospice News

MARCH 22, 2024

McMahon ascended to the role in 2021, serving in various other positions at UnitedHealth Group since 2003, including executive vice president of enterprise operations and CEO of Optum Rx, among other management positions in finance, information technology and operations. The organization is a subsidiary of Western Reserve Care Solutions.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Agape Care Group Appoints M&A VP. Alex Ferguson has stepped into the role of senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions at Agape Care Group. The South Carolina-based hospice and palliative care provider is a portfolio company of the private equity firm Ridgemont Equity Partners. and Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 19, 2023

Hospice and behavioral health care could increasingly intersect in coming years as demand for specialized care grows. But the prevalence of mental health conditions and related concerns like isolation and substance abuse mean that hospice and behavioral health providers may need to find more ways to integrate their services.

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Hospice News

MARCH 20, 2023

Through that program, we believe that we’ll have a much greater usage percentage for our patients to be able to access us.” – Jim Palazzo, CEO, Transitions Care “I was interested in PACE services just because of the similarity that it has to hospice care and the need that it fills, often for some of the poor folks in a community.

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NHPCO

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Nonetheless, CMS has opted to ignore our feedback, along with concerns from congressional leaders dating as far back as 2021. To be clear: our associations support the spirit and intent of the SFP, which, in keeping with the HOSPICE Act passed in 2020, aims to improve poor performing hospices.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

Last year Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian formed a home care and hospice venture in the California — rebranded as Hoag at Home. In 2021, Wisconsin-based Aspirus Health System expanded with hospice and palliative care programs in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Hospice News sat down with providers, advocacy groups, legal experts and other stakeholders to uncover the most significant hospice regulatory trends from this year and their anticipated impacts heading into 2024 and beyond. But we know that action can work in a pendulum. The bill was spurred by the two 2019 OIG reports.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

The algorithm is based on a number of quality indicators, including the Hospice Care Index (HCI) score, complaints to CMS about a provider, survey results and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) scores. The program was among the requirements established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

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