article thumbnail

‘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.

Medicare 279
article thumbnail

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. 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 265
professionals

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Longer Hospice Stays Lead to Larger Medicare Cost Savings

Hospice News

Despite years of scrutiny over the duration of hospice care, new data show that longer stays reduce health care costs in the last year of life by as much as 11%. All told, hospice care — regardless of length of stay — saves Medicare approximately $3.5 billion for patients in their last year of life, a 3.1%

Medicare 342
article thumbnail

CMS: Concurrent Hospice Care Improves Quality, Reduces Costs

Hospice News

Allowing patients to receive concurrent hospice and curative care reduces health care costs and improves quality. The model’s 7,263 enrollees were Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with a six-month terminal prognosis due to cancer, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or HIV/AIDS.

article thumbnail

Hospice Leaders: Change Must Come to the Medicare Hospice Benefit

Hospice News

Calls have grown louder for an overhauled design of the Medicare Hospice Benefit, but the path towards change is riddled with contrasting views over regulation, policy and payment structures. One part of the issue is that hospice reimbursement has not kept pace with evolving patient needs, Grant said.

Medicare 290
article thumbnail

CMS to Allow Concurrent Hospice Care During VBID Extension

Hospice News

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will allow hospice patients to receive concurrent care through the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in, and will permit health plans to further restrict utilization of out-of-network providers.

2026 358
article thumbnail

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 246