Hospice News

APRIL 4, 2024

Collaborations with participants in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s (CMMI) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Primary Care Flex demo could allow hospices to leverage their skill sets to access more patients. Hospices and palliative care providers can come to ACOs by two main avenues.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 20, 2022

SCAN Health Plan is among the Medicare Advantage (MA) payers entering the hospice component of the value-based insurance design (VBID) payment demonstration in 2023. The four-year program — often called the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in — launched Jan. This number grew to 115 in 2022.

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Rehab Realities by Renee Kinder

APRIL 28, 2022

April 2022, however, also brings us a renewed approach and initiatives from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding its National Quality Strategy. Through this measure and others, CMS intends to propose the establishment of a maternity care quality hospital designation to be publicly reported on Medicare.gov. •

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Hospice News

MAY 24, 2023

“We want to be much more flexible in terms of being able to triage people to the right level of care, and not just accessing palliative care to fill a gap for a short period of time.” These are often offered as part of specialized managed care programs. Patient eligibility criteria also fluctuate across state Medicaid lines.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

The company currently employs more than 450,000 people across its business lines, with about 135,000 attributed to Optum, which cares for 103 million patients nationwide. The company is also the nation’s largest operator of Medicare Advantage plans. billion in revenue during the third quarter of this year, up 14% from Q3 2022.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 12, 2023

Vynca launched as an advance care planning technology platform and expanded into the palliative care provider space through its 2021 acquisition of California-based Resolution Care. In 2022, the company rebranded as VyncaCare to reflect its broadened scope of clinical services. We do traditional Medicare.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 13, 2022

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to examine the issue and to consider actions like targeted moratoria on licenses. In development for subsequent years is a Special Focus Program (SFP) with a range of enforcement powers up to and including civil monetary penalties and revocation of Medicare certification, among others.

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Rehab Realities by Renee Kinder

APRIL 25, 2024

The recently published “Quality in Motion: Acting on the CMS National Quality Strategy April 2024” highlights further evolution of the 2022 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) National Quality Strategy (NQS). Specifically, rehab providers can focus on discharge planning procedures and coordination in care.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 18, 2023

The collaboration was developed to offer home-based palliative care to Medicare Advantage beneficiaries covered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, parent company of Livio Health. Minneapolis-based Livio Health was later acquired in 2022 by Lifespark, a senior health care company in the state.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

“The investment in Uintah Basin Home Health and Hospice will allow us to enhance the care coordination with Uintah Basin Medical Center and provide better health outcomes for the patients and clients we serve in the Uintah Basin area.”. Utah holds the highest rate of hospice utilization among Medicare decedents nationwide.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 4, 2023

HHCJ received Medicare certification in 2006 and was operated by Catholic Community Services prior to its closure. The home health and hospice provider’s additional services included bereavement care, as well as free medical equipment loans for wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, bath benches, bedside commodes or canes.

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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. This is largely a function of demographics. This is down from 51.6%

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Hospice News

AUGUST 2, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) recently finalized hospice payment rule. In 2022, CMS convened a technical expert panel (TEP) on health equity to provide additional input that will be used to inform the development of health equity quality measures. The panel released its report in May. “We

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Hospice News

JULY 11, 2023

This participation has allowed us to integrate our experience as both a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan and hospice provider, developing a care model that fundamentally aligns with CMS’ broad policy goals. This collaboration can help optimize care delivery, expand member access to services, and improving the quality of care provided.

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Hospice News

MAY 30, 2023

Though nonprofit hospices now represent a smaller slice of the industry than in years past, they continue to care for more than half of patients in the United States who elect the benefit. The number of hospices operating nationwide rose to 5,3,58 in 2021, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

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AAHPM (American Academy of Hospice and Palliative)

AUGUST 11, 2023

In our discipline of palliative care, understanding the unique needs and characteristics of the population is essential for providing effective and high-quality care. By addressing these dimensions, clinicians enhance the quality of care and the overall well-being of patients.

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GeriPal

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Don’t get me wrong, the evidence points to cost savings, but as Chris Callahan and Kathleen Unroe pointed out in a JAGS editorial in 2020 “in comprehensive dementia care models, savings may accrue to Medicare, but the expenses accrue to a fluid and unstable network of local service providers, patients, and their families.” Diane: Huge.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 7, 2022

When stakeholders consider ways to improve Medicare Advantage, they should take care not to romanticize fee-for-service Medicare in the process, SCAN Health Plan CEO Dr. Sachin Jain cautions. Medicare Advantage (MA) is a growing force in health care. Through Medicare Advantage, the U.S.

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