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‘Upgrading’ the Medicare Hospice Benefit

Hospice News

The Medicare Hospice Benefit could use an “upgrade” to ensure greater flexibility that may be necessary to fully support patients’ needs. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should consider is retiring the six-month terminal prognosis requirement and allowing for some concurrent care, Wallace and Wladkowski indicated.

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Investigating Medicare Hospice Overpayments

Hospice News

Audits audits by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) have proliferated during the past two years, including Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) audits, as well as those by Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPIC), Supplemental Medical Review Contractors (SMRC) and Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC). Hospices received nearly 5.4%

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5 Numbers that Shaped Hospice in 2022

Hospice News

Hospice leaders have kept their eyes on four key numbers as 2022 progressed: clinical capacity, length of stay, labor costs and utilization. The workforce shortage had an influence on each one of these indicators, making it perhaps the most significant, though unfortunate, hospice trend of 2022. Clinical capacity. Length of stay.

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NHPCO: Proposed 2.8% Hospice Payment Hike Insufficient 

Hospice News

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is insufficient to support hospice patients’ care needs, a major industry group said. After a moratorium during the pandemic, full Medicare sequestration resumed on July 1, 2022. base payment rate increase recently proposed by the U.S. this year. “In increase.

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How the 4 Largest Hospice Industry Groups Work Together to Support Program Integrity

Hospice News

The four largest hospice industry organizations have been working to present a united front to address widespread program integrity issues. Coming together to combat fraud Beginning in 2022, NHPCO, NAHC, NPHI and LeadingAge began issuing a series of joint statements calling attention to the problem and proposing solutions.

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Why SCAN Health Plan Will Enter Hospice VBID in 2023

Hospice News

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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Amedisys Making Progress on Turnover, Earnings Stability

Hospice News

NASDAQ: AMED) is seeing glimmers of improvement on the labor pressures that contributed to uneven earnings performance during 2022. The labor shortage was the main culprit behind the capacity contraints that plagued Amedisys and many other providers during 2022. Amedisys, Inc. Pre-pandemic, the baseline rate hovered around 25%.

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