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Medicare Making Fewer Improper Payments to Hospices

Hospice News

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

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Hospice Advocacy Groups Ask Congress for Action on Proposed 2023 Medicare Rates

Hospice News

bump in Medicare payments, which they say is insufficient in light of COVID-19 and staffing headwinds. CMS in April released the 2023 proposed payment rule for hospice providers, including the 2.7% A key point of contention is that CMS used 2019 data to calculate the 2023 rate, including wages and cost reports.

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2023’s Most Impactful Hospice Regulatory Moves

Hospice News

Program integrity issues that have heated up in the hospice space during the past five years reached a boiling point in 2023. Hospice providers have seen an array of increased regulatory oversight in 2023. Many established services for the purpose of selling the license at a profit or defrauding Medicare. In response, the U.S.

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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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The Role of Medicare Advantage in Growing Palliative Care Services

Hospice News

For the time being, Medicare Advantage may be providers’ best bet for palliative care reimbursement. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also allows Medicare Advantage plans to cover palliative care as a supplemental benefit.

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Medicare Advantage Crackdown Could Dampen Palliative Care Growth

Hospice News

Federal regulators are cracking down on the private insurers that administer Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. That growth has continued into 2023, with at least 157 plans offering home-based palliative care, according to data from Washington, D.C.-based based research and consulting firm ATI Advisory.

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Hospice VBID: Understanding the 2023 Program Modifications

Hospice News

1, 2023, meaning that some of the program’s rules will change. 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). Numbers from the program’s first year offer few clues for the 2023 landscape.

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