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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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Key Research Trends: Long Hospice Stays, Palliative Care Save Medicare Dollars

Hospice News

This is the first of a two-part service that will detail key findings from recent research on hospice care, featuring numbers that could influence they ways hospices communicate and operate. Hospices’ cost-savings potential A study published in March revealed that hospice saved Medicare roughly $3.5

Medicare 217
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Providers to Lawmakers: Hospice a ‘Huge Value to Medicare’

Hospice News

Longer stays yield greater savings Regulators have fixed their gaze on longer hospice stays as signals of potential fraud, waste and abuse. Hospice care saves Medicare roughly $3.5 The longer the hospice stay, the more potential savings.” That’s a huge difference and a huge value to Medicare,” Munevar said.

Medicare 236
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Preventing Adverse Drug Events in Hospice Care

Hospice News

“It’s challenging when a patient is in a facility-based setting, because they keep their own medical records and sometimes the medication changes don’t transfer to the hospice side. Another really important intervention is making sure patients, families and informal caregivers have sufficient understanding of the medications.

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New Research Shows Hospice Care Reduces Medicare Costs

NHPCO

For Immediate Release March 22, 2023 New Research Shows Hospice Care Reduces Medicare Costs Hospice Care Contributed to $3.5 billion in savings for Medicare in 2019, while providing multiple benefits to patients, families, and caregivers. That’s what hospice has done for more than 40 years.

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Hospice Care Found Lacking in Assisted Living Setting

Hospice News

Researchers from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry recently dug into hospice decedent data spanning 2019 – 2020 to examine differences in quality across various care settings. These hospices were 5% less likely to have higher CAHPS scores and 7% less likely to have higher HIS scores.

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Systematic Change Needed to Support Family Caregivers of Hospice Patients

Hospice News

Given the critical role of family caregivers in home-based care, hospices have a vested interest in expanding their access to support. Families caring for seriously ill loved ones face systemic barriers that could threaten patients’ ability to receive care at home, including at the end of life.

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