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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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Medicare Advantage Transparency Efforts Could Impact Hospices

Hospice News

Want to read more palliative care-focused content? Subscribe to Palliative Care News today ! Recent efforts to increase transparency within Medicare Advantage may impact hospice reimbursement. This includes preparation of a bill that would increase data transparency for supplemental benefits under Medicare Advantage.

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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 233
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Medicare Home Health Cuts Could Have Ripple Effect on Hospice, Palliative Care

Hospice News

Margin pressures from the proposed cuts to Medicare home health rates could impact palliative care and hospice. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in June released its proposed home health reimbursement rule for 2023, which included a 4.2% pay hike for hospice care in 2023.

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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%

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Preventing Adverse Drug Events in Hospice Care

Hospice News

McPherson also serves on the board of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM). Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) can have an impact on mortality and morbidity among seriously ill patients, according to researchers of a 2019 study published in the Journal of Pain & Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy. About 81.5%

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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.