Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2023

The nation’s total health care spend is expected to swell by 5.4% annually between 2022 and 2031, reaching $7.1 Meanwhile, Medicare hospice spending is expected to more than double by 2032. The report, published today in Health Affairs , did not contain hospice-specific data. ” In 2022, CMS paid $23.9

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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%

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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. It makes sense.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 9, 2022

The hospice component of the value-based insurance design (VBID) model will begin its third year on Jan. Often called the MA hospice carve-in , the voluntary demonstration is designed to assess payer and provider performance related to hospice within Medicare Advantage (MA).

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

The four largest hospice industry organizations have been working to present a united front to address widespread program integrity issues. Many of these hospices were also setting up shop, providing substandard care to a few patients and then selling off the license before regulators caught wind of it. This prompted the U.S.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 30, 2024

Hospices under pressure Given today’s reimbursement pressures, coupled with inflation and rising labor costs, expenses are a very real concern for hospice providers, particularly smaller organizations with tight margins. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) gave hospices a 3.1% reduction.

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Hospice News

JUNE 7, 2023

” Arizona had 239 new Medicare-certified hospices appear between 2018 and 2022, representing 52% of all providers in the state. In that time frame, Nevada saw 56 newly certified hospices, and 369 emerged in Texas. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to address this issue, providing 34 recommendations.

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Hospice News

JULY 17, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is conducting a small pilot program for post-payment reviews of hospice stays that exceed 90 days. CMS internal data has identified a potential area of vulnerability beginning with the second benefit period, or 91st day in hospice,” Noridian indicated in an announcement.

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Hospice News

JUNE 21, 2023

Longer general inpatient hospice stays and high-cost issues are reasons for the audit, dubbed the “Audit of Selected, High-Risk Medicare Hospice General Inpatient Services,” according to OIG. The audit is among a host of others in the health care space that the agency rolled out this month in its Work Plan initiatives.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 3, 2023

Rising expenses caused widespread margin compression among hospices during 2022, particularly those associated with wages and salaries, recruitment and retention, fuel and general inflation. “We’re Susan Ponder-Stansel, CEO, Alivia Care. Susan Ponder-Stansel, CEO, Alivia Care. Staying on top of spending.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 8, 2023

Hospices seeking to gauge the potential impact of new regulatory actions in the space can look to their counterparts in the home health field. CMS is no doubt hoping for similar results for the Medicare Hospice Benefit. In that time frame, Nevada saw 56 newly certified hospices, and 369 emerged in Texas.

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Hospice News

JUNE 20, 2023

NASDAQ: PNTG) has acquired Idaho-based Bluebird Home Health, Bluebird Hospice and Bluebird Home Care for an undisclosed sum. Its hospice business accounted for nearly $43.3 million in Q1 2022. of its Medicare decedents elected hospice care, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization reported.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 8, 2023

This includes the revamping of the hospice survey process and the establishment of a Special Focus Program slated to begin in 2024, to name a few. What we would love for our lawmakers to do is really champion the program as it exists and make sure it’s protected from threats to its payment system,” Baird told Hospice News.

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Hospice News

JUNE 27, 2023

As more hospices engage with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, they may be able to learn from the experiences of some home health providers. Historically, MA has not covered hospice. Everyone needs access to the home and what it provides. For hospices, this includes performance on quality measures required by the U.S.

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Hospice News

JULY 3, 2023

The practice appears to stem from a rash of newly licensed hospices that have emerged in California, Nevada, Texas and Arizona. Some of these providers have secured licenses, as well as Medicare certification and, sometimes, accreditation. In that time frame, Nevada saw 56 newly certified hospices, and 369 emerged in Texas.

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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. Hospices flagged by the SFP would be surveyed every six months rather than the current three-year cycle.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 13, 2022

A coalition of hospice industry organizations recently urged the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to examine the issue and to consider actions like targeted moratoria on licenses. The agency will also implement a hospice program complaint hotline through which the public can report issues to CMS.

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Hospice News

MARCH 16, 2023

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has once again recommended a 20% cut to the aggregate cap for hospice payments. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) set the 2023 cap at $32,486.92, up from nearly $31,300 per patient for Fiscal Year 2022. To me, it just logically doesn’t make sense.”

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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. For one, more people know about hospice.

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Hospice News

MAY 6, 2022

The State of New York’s recently approved budget for Fiscal Year 2023 required that home care and hospice aides be paid at least $2 more than the state’s $15 standard minimum wage. While these workers are among the lowest paid in health care, this could put providers in a bind without corresponding increases to reimbursement.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

RoboToaster, SmugMug RoboToaster, SmugMug Joel Wherley at the 2022 ELEVATE Conference. Pricing pressures in the labor environment are bearing weight on hospice sustainability in a competitive wage market, according to Dexter Braff, president of M&A advisory firm The Braff Group. pay increase for hospice care for Fiscal Year 2023.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Two of the largest home health and hospice operators nationwide were recently scooped up by UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) subsidiary Optum. billion in 2022 and went on to make a bid to purchase Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) for $3.3 In total hospice care saves Medicare roughly $3.5

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Hospice News

APRIL 21, 2022

Kindred is the largest provider of home health services by market share in the United States and the second-largest hospice provider, according to LexisNexis. . Value-Based care a prime mover. The company’s strategy for the Kindred at Home assets has several advantages. Hospice partnership vs.ownership.

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NHPCO

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

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

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Hospice News

APRIL 11, 2023

Hospices have relied on data to enhances their ability to assess the quality and quantity of bedside care delivered during a patients’ final days. This includes two key quality measures: Hospice Visits in the Last Days of Life (HVLDL) and the Hospice Care Index (HCI).

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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

JULY 25, 2023

Hospice providers have needed a window into access and utilization, as well as how lawmakers are shaping policies around health care. We know that addressing issues related to quality of hospice care is timely and critical to state (and also federal) lawmakers,” Cagle told Hospice News in an email.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 2, 2023

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) recently finalized hospice payment rule. Concerns are mounting among hospices that the 3.1% pay raise won’t be enough to support care amid these financial pressures, she said. The panel released its report in May.

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Hospice News

MARCH 20, 2023

Regardless of providers’ disparate methods, hospice remains a high-growth industry, expanding at an annual rate of 7% to 8% annually, Bank of America (BofA) Global Research reported in TKTK. By 2030, the hospice market’s total dollar value is expected to nearly double, reaching $64.7 billion, up from $34.5

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High Peaks Hospice

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Ann Merkel grew up in New Haven, Connecticut where the first hospice in the United States started in 1974. That year Medicare determined that dying was no longer a diagnosis that warranted a hospital admission. Families were struggling to manage the death of their loved ones unsupported at home.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 19, 2022

In 2022, the hospice community laid the groundwork for a transformational 2023. During late 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed new approaches for enforcing hospice regulations that will become effective on Jan. 3–6 Big Provider, Payer Hospice Deals.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Strong performance on the Hospice Care Index is becoming increasingly essential to securing payer and referral contracts and will be a key consideration in the federal government’s forthcoming Special Focus Program (SFP). The Hospice Care Index can be a referral driver.

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Hospice News

JUNE 1, 2022

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) designed the Hospice Care Index (HCI) to paint a picture of care processes that occur between a patient’s admission and discharge, but as currently designed it may not be an effective measure of quality. appeared first on Hospice News.

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Home Care Pulse

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Just another touching hospice story? a> Share: We’re Home Care Pulse, a leading provider of experience management & surveys, caregiver/CNA training, and online reputation management. H ospice and Palliative Care Month has arrived. Hospice experiences: Meeting You Where You Are.

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1-800-HOSPICE

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Hospice Care Index: A Perfect 10. In August 2022, Medicare included a new overall quality measure for Hospice Care Compare: the Hospice Care Index. For each quality measure where the hospice has good performance, one point is added to the Hospice Care Index. In Conclusion.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 19, 2023

Four national hospice and senior care industry groups have called on Congress and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make regulatory and legislative changes to instill stronger program integrity safeguards. The Hospice Program Integrity plan lists 34 recommendations that center around five key areas.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

Understanding payer priorities in defining the scope of quality is vital for hospices to thrive not only in traditional Medicare, but also in today’s value-based reimbursement climate. The nitty gritty details of data tracking and management matter when it comes to ensuring both a healthy bottom line and quality patient care.

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