Recent research has found that varying state laws around palliative care can impact cancer patients’ place of death. Cancer patients in states with laws that require health care providers to provide palliative consultations were more likely to die in the home or in an inpatient hospice setting versus the hospital, a JAMA Network Open study […]
A growing number of patients with various dementia-related conditions will need end-of-life care in coming years. Hospices preparing for rising demand are facing compliance challenges, as these patients often require longer hospice stays. Patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurological degenerative disorders have health trajectories that are difficult to project, especially as they approach the end […]
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is prioritizing hospice as the agency cracks down on health care fraud. Increased reimbursement oversight could be on the horizon, lending to a potential rise in whistleblower cases. DOJ counts hospice claims among the root causes of rising Medicare costs in recent years, according to Lisa Miller, deputy assistant […]
Current clinical education models do not sufficiently prepare medical professionals to either understand or deliver the full scope of palliative care services, according to researchers from the University of Michigan. Most clinicians receive little to no exposure to palliative care during their training. This lack of exposure to palliative care has led to widespread misunderstanding […]
After weighing the decision for several months, Nashville-based nonprofit Alive Hospice will not be sold. Workforce shortages, rising care delivery costs, reimbursements shifts and widespread consolidation were the main reasons that a potential sale was on the table, according to Alive Hospice’s board of directors. The organization will remain a nonprofit hospice, they indicated. “The […]
After becoming a public entity last year, Enhabit Inc.’s (NYSE: EHAB) M&A journey has narrowed towards hospice, diverting less in home health’s direction. Reimbursement uncertainties, shrinking pools of available assets, and rising valuations in the home health space are forces steering the company’s sights towards hospice, according to Enhabit executives. Large-scale consolidation in both home […]
Integrating palliative consultations into care management for heart failure patients improves utilization and fosters greater understanding among referring clinicians, research from the Veteran Affairs (VA) Connecticut Healthcare System has found. VA Connecticut Healthcare System researchers recently rolled out the educational study to determine whether consultative services would boost palliative care referrals for hospital-based heart failure […]
Compassus and VNS Health have formed a value-based collaboration aimed at improving access, awareness and quality of hospice and palliative care services. The two home-based care organizations are joining forces in a Medicare Advantage (MA) Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) model partnership. Through the collaboration, VNS Health and Compassus will help MA health plans to manage […]
The palliative care field is in the midst of evolution, with reimbursement and workforce dynamics being the dominant forces influencing sustainable growth in the space. Palliative providers are focusing their greatest efforts on navigating choppy, and often lagging, reimbursement streams to meet increased demand for serious illness care. These streams flow directly into their ability […]
CMMI: Data Critical to Developing Health Equity Quality Measures for Hospices in Value-Based Payment
Patient data collection is critical in how the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is developing health equity quality measures for hospices in value-based payment. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in 2022 announced a “strategy refresh” that included a renewed focus on health care equity in payment model design. Among […]
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