Hospice News

JANUARY 12, 2024

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has voted to recommend a freeze on hospice payment increases starting in 2025. This recommendation is offered at a time when hospice care costs have risen faster than any inflation update provided by CMS,” Dombi told Hospice News in an email. “A set in 2023.

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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. Hospice VBID enters its third year in 2023.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

If you were to write a book about hospice in 2023, what would you call it? To help answer that question, Hospice News asked the CEOs of eight providers how they would title a book about the state of the field today. Croix Hospice, AccentCare, Chapters Health System, Alivia Care, Enhabit, Inc.,

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Sarah Bush Lincoln Opens New Hospice Illinois-based Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospice recently opened a new inpatient facility. Located in Mattoon, Illinois, the Willow Breeze Hospice House features eight patient rooms with private bathrooms. The hospice provider is part of the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, which opened in 1977.

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Hospice News

JANUARY 19, 2024

Though the number of hospice M&A deals plummeted in 2023 compared to prior years, deals are still being made, and the industry may see a rebound in 2024. Transaction volume declined in the hospice and home-based care space in 2023, following the two record-breaking prior years. NYSE: HUM) for $2.8

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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

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

After 75 years of service, Georgia-based hospice provider Visiting Nurse Health System (VNHS) has its sights set on the future. Founded in 1948, the organization was the first home-based care provider to operate in Georgia, and in 1975 launched the state’s first hospice program. Seniors represented 14.7%

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Hospice News

MARCH 15, 2024

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended to Congress a freeze on hospice payment increases starting in 2025. In its annual report to Congress, MedPAC urged policymakers to eliminate hospice base-rate increases for 2025. The 2021 aggregated Medicare hospice margin was 13.3%, according to MedPAC.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Croix Hospice has expanded its Missouri footprint with a de novo in the Wildwood community. Favorable demographics are among the factors that make Missouri an attractive market for hospices. Croix Hospice often looks for markets in which hospice utilization is comparatively low, including historically underserved rural communities, St.

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Hospice News

MARCH 12, 2024

Program integrity and an onslaught of audits are top of mind for many hospice providers in 2024. We look forward to continuing our work with CMS and Congress to ensure an equitable and effective enforcement system that preserves access to nonprofit, mission driven hospice care.”

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

billion in improper payments during 2023, though a smaller proportion of those dollars went to hospices than in years prior. Hospices received nearly 5.4% of improper payments from Medicare in 2023, down from 12% in 2022, according to a new report from the U.S. Medicare fee-for-service programs made $31.23

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

The film is based on director Laura Chinn’s personal experience as her brother Max received inpatient care at the Suncoast Hospice Care Center, an actual facility operated by the Florida-based nonprofit Empath Health. The post ‘Suncoast’ Film Points a Lens at Hospice Families’ Experience appeared first on Hospice News.

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Hospice News

MARCH 28, 2024

Eve Conversa, Hospice Nurse Practitioner for Advocate Health/Advocate Hospice, has been named a 2023 Frontline Honors honoree by Hospice News. Hospice News caught up with Conversa to discuss their time in the hospice care industry. Conversa: Hospice is not about dying.

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NHPCO

DECEMBER 19, 2023

The HAN Angel Awards were created to recognize select members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for their ongoing efforts to amplify the voices of patients, families, providers, and those advocating for the vital mission of hospice and palliative care in supporting patients and their families facing serious or life-limiting illness.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

The company expects the program to bring in roughly 25 new health care workers each month in 2023 at an estimated cost of $40 million, which VITAS hopes to offset with increased volume as staffing gains drive up capacity. “We VITAS launched the initiative in an effort to improve timely access to hospice care.

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Hospice News

MAY 25, 2023

Massachusetts-based Advanced Home Care has acquired Dignity Hospice Care for an undisclosed amount. The transaction follows Advanced Home Care’s acquisition of Dignity Home Care late last year. The buyer company’s CEO Art Kalenjian will now take the helm at Dignity Hospice.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 23, 2023

Croix Hospice has launched a new specialty program focused on wound care. The Minnesota-based provider has hired a number of board-certified wound and ostomy clinicians to operate the new program, its eighth specialty care service. Croix Hospice is a portfolio company of the private equity firm H.I.G. ” The post St.

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Hospice News

MARCH 14, 2024

Hospices, in aggregate, are showing improvement on the quality measure for visits in the last days of life. In Calendar Year 2021, the share of hospice care days with nurse visits in the last seven days of life rose to 63%, up from 62% year over year, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Croix Hospice recently unveiled data showing how the company leveraged predictive analytics technology to improve quality outcomes. In 2019 the Minnesota-headquartered hospice provider began utilizing a predictive analytics tool from Medalogix. Croix Hospice. Through the predictive analytics data, hospice patients at St.

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Hospice News

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Residential Hospice has acquired Illinois-based Safe Haven Hospice from the senior living provider Christian Horizons for an undisclosed sum. “We share a commitment of putting patients and families first by providing exceptional care focused on optimizing the quality of life, comfort and dignity of our patients.”

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Hospice News

APRIL 11, 2024

Angela Hospice’s New Senior Living Inpatient Facility Michigan-based Angela Hospice recently unveiled plans to open a new inpatient center at a senior living facility. Set to open this summer, the hospice facility will feature 15 patient beds at Lourdes Senior Community in Waterford, Michigan. The William B. and Janet B.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Health plan participation in the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID) will fall in 2024. For calendar year 2024, 13 Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) will participate in the program’s hospice component, providing coverage through 78 health plans in 19 states. million in 2023.

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Hospice News

APRIL 15, 2024

Lagging supportive services around social determinants of health and limited access to hospice and palliative care are driving disparities among rural family caregivers. Family caregivers in rural areas are more likely to experience social determinants of health that negatively affect the provision of palliative and end of life care.

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NHPCO

DECEMBER 13, 2023

NHPCO Facts and Figures is the leading resource for hospice providers and others interested in understanding the work of the community. The 2023 Facts and Figures report continues to see the impact of COVID-19 on patient care and the effect of the COVID-19 waivers to the traditional delivery of hospice care.

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Hospice News

JUNE 26, 2023

Hospice providers are growing increasingly concerned about how state laws related to transgender rights may impede access to their services among LGBTQ+ communities. A rash of states have recently passed legislation to ban the delivery of gender-affirming health care, including Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, among others.

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Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2023

A growing number of patients with various dementia-related conditions will need end-of-life care in coming years. Hospices preparing for rising demand are facing compliance challenges, as these patients often require longer hospice stays. She co-founded the group roughly five years ago with colleagues in the subspecialty.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Over time, Medicare Advantage plans will likely have a greater presence as hospice payers, and now is the time for providers to build relationships those organizations. Originally slated to end in 2024, CMS recently extended the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID) to 2023. million beneficiaries.

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Hospice News

MAY 10, 2023

Hospices are increasingly eying palliative care as a promising growth opportunity, prioritizing expansion in that field over other health care service lines. Survey respondents included nearly 330 hospice and palliative care industry professionals, including owners, executive leaders and managers, among others.

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Hospice News

AUGUST 16, 2023

Jessica McGlory, founder and CEO of the California-based hospice provider Guaranteed, has been named a 2023 Future Leader by Hospice News. McGlory sat down with Hospice News to talk about her career trajectory and the ways the industry is evolving. What drew you to the hospice field?

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Hospice News

JUNE 14, 2023

The nation’s total health care spend is expected to swell by 5.4% Meanwhile, Medicare hospice spending is expected to more than double by 2032. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary also project that health care expenditures will represent 19.6% annually between 2022 and 2031, reaching $7.1

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Hospice News

MARCH 13, 2024

In case you missed it, Hospice News has launched a new specialty publication for palliative care professionals. You can subscribe to Palliative Care News here: Subscribe today! d/b/a/ Covenant Care, provides hospice across six cities in the panhandle and northwest region of Florida and in three markets across southeast Alabama.

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Hospice News

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Hospice patients are often concerned about the future wellness of their pets as they near the end of life, and some providers are working with organizations that help address those needs as an ancillary service. The organization also deploys volunteers to help families care for animals in the home. “In

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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

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

Hospice providers have increasingly turned to technology to connect with hard-to-reach patients, streamline back-office functions and stay ahead of the curve on worsening health conditions. The year ahead is likely to bring significantly more technology investment as well, the 2023 Hospice News Outlook Survey and Report suggests.

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Hospice News

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

As hospices prepare for Medicare Advantage, more nonprofits are finding that creating partnerships or entering affiliations will better position themselves for payer negotiations. Nonprofit hospice affiliations have surged in 2022 and 2023. The program also includes components designed to expand access to palliative care.

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Hospice News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Both opportunities and challenges exist for hospice providers as regulators zero in on program integrity. Hospices stand to grow their census by taking on patients left behind by “bad actors” in certain markets. Widespread reports of fraud and abuse in hospice have led to intensified regulatory oversight during 2023.

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Hospice News

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Stakeholders are closely eying the legislative journey of a bill designed to improve access to blood transfusion services among hospice patients. If enacted, it could affect hospices’ ability to measure quality. the Improving Access to Transfusion Care for Hospice Patients Act of 2023 is currently in Senate review.

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