New York’s Mountain Valley Hospice Launches Palliative Care Business

New York state-based Mountain Valley Hospice has launched a community-based palliative care program that extends throughout its four-county service region. Accordingly, the organization has rebranded as Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care.

A growing number of hospices have been diversifying their services to engage patients further upstream and open new revenue streams. Palliative care is among the most common new business lines, with hospices representing an estimated 50% of community-based palliative care providers nationwide, according to the Center to Advance Palliative Care.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer patients expanded services in their home, featuring customized, person-centered care with the ability to continue aggressive, curative treatment or experimental drug regimens,” said Mountain Valley President and CEO Kara Travis. “Patients will no longer have to make a choice between stopping treatment and allowing our team to coordinate their care with a personalized care plan that meets their lifestyle goals.”

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Mountain Valley, a nonprofit provider, was established in 1988 to offer end-of-life and bereavement care. The organization operates an eight-bed hospice home inpatient facility in Gloversville, N.Y.

Currently Medicare reimburses for palliative care physician and licensed independent practitioner services through fee-for-service payment programs that often do not sufficiently support the full range of interdisciplinary care.

New, though limited, avenues for payment are opening up with the advent of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s value-based insurance design demonstration, often called the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in. Palliative care is among the requirements of participating providers.

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Medicare Advantage plans have the option to offer palliative care as a supplemental benefit. Through Medicare Advantage, CMS contracts with private insurance companies to provide coverage for beneficiaries. Law requires those plans to cover all of the services offered by traditional Medicare, but also allows for certain supplemental benefits.

Historically these benefits were very limited, but the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act (CHRONIC), passed by Congress in 2018, expanded the range of those benefits to include programs to address some social determinants of health, as well as home-based palliative care.

Registered nurse Amy Seeley has joined Mountain Valley to oversee the palliative care program. She formerly served as a care transitions liaison for Kindred at Home. Insurance company Humana (NYSE: HUM) in April announced plans to acquire the remaining 60% stake in Kindred at Home for $8.1 billion.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to combine my passion for geriatric care with my network of regional health care partners to launch this new service for Mountain Valley,” said Seeley.  “We look forward to collaborating with our community partners to decrease avoidable emergency room and hospital visits, all while coordinating the patients’ complicated care.”

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