Effective revenue cycle management can reduce hospice claims denials, particularly those associated with billing or documentation errors. In addition to slowing down payments or losing revenue, submitting inadequate or incomplete required written documentation is a sure-fire way to bring surveyors or auditors to a hospice’s doorstep. As regulators increasingly fix their eyes on the hospice […]
Addressing long-standing racial disparities in hospice care could save Medicare as much as $270 million annually, new research has found. Outreach to underserved communities can ensure more patients receive quality care at the end-of-life as well as open untapped markets to hospice providers. “We all know the quality of life benefits but seeing the economic […]
The availability of hospital-based palliative programs is growing nationwide, though some regions remain underserved according to new research by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). Patients in the northeastern United States who suffer from serious illness have significantly greater access to palliative care programs that individuals in other parts of the country. Currently 72% […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a final rule on hospital discharge planning that underscores the need for hospices to leverage their publicly reported quality metrics as a competitive advantage. The new rule requires hospitals to inform patients about their choices related to post-acute care providers including those organizations’ performance […]
Lung cancer patients who receive palliative care interventions early in the course of their illness are more likely to survive than patients who do not, new research has found. Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Portland Health Care System and Oregon Health and Science University researchers examined data from more than 23,000 patients with advanced lung cancer who […]
Private equity-backed Three Oaks Hospice, based in Texas, has acquired three hospice agencies in Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. Three Oaks began operating in May. The three acquisitions — Total Hospice & Palliative Care, ABS Palliative and Hospice Care and Fellowship Hospice — increase the hospice’s referral network to more than 200 sources, enabling […]
The Medicare Hospice Benefit is aging along with the patients it is designed to serve. Nearly 40 years since its inception, it may be time to re-examine aspects of the program in light of the ways that patient populations and the larger health care system have changed. The hospice benefit was established as a demonstration […]
Misconceptions about the nature of palliative care continue to proliferate among the U.S. population, with patient demographics among the factors that influence those beliefs, new research has found. Hospice providers nationwide are increasingly diversifying their service lines to include palliative care, but lack of awareness and poor understanding among prospective patients are a major barrier […]
Hospices in hurricane zones each year face the complex task of ensuring they can continue operations and support patients in their homes in the aftermath of a potentially catastrophic storm. Hospices in Florida recently contended with Category 5 Hurricane Dorian, while the region experienced minimal damage from that storm, providers were standing ready to see […]
Emergency department physicians are adept at predicting when a patient is likely to die and can facilitate patients’ access to hospice care earlier in the course of their illness, according to recent research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open. However, improved communication and coordination between emergency department physicians and hospice medical […]
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