Key leaders from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) doubled down on the agency’s six strategic pillars Tuesday, while also sharing insights on how they’re handling the gradual end of the public health emergency (PHE).
They did so during a national conference call with hospice operators and other CMS stakeholders.
“We really want to make sure that we are doing what we can to communicate the incredible work across the department, across the government and, particularly, at this agency, to make sure that you’re well informed of all of the initiatives that we have underway,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said during the call.
Advancing health equity, for example, remains a top priority for CMS. That’s an area especially relevant for end-of-life care providers, as there continues to be serious utilization gaps between white Medicare beneficiaries and communities of color.
The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), in fact, recently highlighted how Black patients with serious illnesses often receive poorer quality pain and symptom management compared to other groups.
“This has not been an easy time. We all know that,” Brooks-LaSure continued. “But I continue to believe that it represents an opportunity for all of us to really drive health equity. And by that we mean really ensuring that everyone in this country has a fair and just opportunity to really live their best lives, regardless of the characteristics that might define them.”
Along with health equity, the six strategic pillars for CMS broadly include building on the Affordable Care Act, engaging stakeholders, driving innovation, protecting the U.S. health care workforce and safeguarding Medicare-Medicaid programs from fraud, waste and abuse.
In regard to program integrity, CMS is paying close attention to the use of telehealth and telemedicine, according to Dara Corrigan, director of the CMS Center for Program Integrity (CPI). Enabled by regulatory flexibility during the PHE, many hospice providers have turned to such tools to maintain touch-points with patients.
“CPI continues to combat Medicare and Medicaid fraud related to telehealth, telemedicine and COVID-related fraud,” Corrigan said during the call. “Over the past two-plus years, most providers and suppliers have worked tirelessly to react to the COVID-19 pandemic. But some bad actors have used this as an opportunity to take advantage of federal health programs – and also to exploit the beneficiaries that we want to protect.”
Hospice providers were already under increased oversight from CMS, along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).
When it comes to ending the PHE, CMS maintains that it will give hospice agencies and other providers 60-days notice before taking such action. The PHE was recently extended until Oct. 6.
As the PHE winds down, CMS is focused on issuing new Conditions of Participation regulations “to promote more resilient health care systems.” It is also evaluating which provider waivers to maintain, sunset and re-issue.
“We plan to issue new regulations to help providers prepare [and] plan for whatever comes down the pike,” CMS Chief Operating Officer Jon Blum said on the call. “We want to think about new regulations that would help hospitals, providers think about or help prepare for this next phase.”
“We want to make sure that whatever we do, we’re doing it in a carefully planned, coordinated way throughout the whole agency,” he added.
