Hospices that serve rural communities encounter unique challenges to bring care to a geographically dispersed population while contending with a smaller labor pool and higher costs for clinician travel. Demand for hospice and palliative care is rising in rural areas as the population ages with the rest of the country. But those patients often find […]
As U.S. hospices care for the dying and compete for referrals, a vast contingent of terminally ill Americans die in places they don’t want to be, receiving treatments that will not save them. Turning this tide will require more than effective marketing. At some point, we as a society need to reconsider how we think […]
Policymakers in Washington, D.C., certainly have a lot on their plate these days, including navigating an increasingly polarized and vitriolic political environment. That acknowledged, the need to expand access to community-based palliative care needs to move up on their list of priorities. Ideally, this should be done through a dedicated benefit within Medicare. Though legislators […]
This year was transformational for the hospice space. The industry took its first steps towards value-based payment through the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model, or Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in. Providers also saw an overhaul of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) survey process, all while contending with COVID-19 headwinds […]
During 2021 hospice providers took their first concrete steps towards value-based payments while contending with a global pandemic. Industry consolidation proceeded apace, and the appetites of private equity buyers for hospice assets have not diminished. The health care system and the hospice community also continue to grapple with the challenge of addressing inequitable access and […]
As the aging and seriously ill population continues to grow, the need for a community-based palliative care benefit is becoming more clear. A benefit would improve access to much-needed services and help control exploding medical costs. Establishing a dedicated Medicare benefit has been a priority for providers and industry groups for several years, but now […]
The hospice mergers and acquisitions market has been burgeoning for the last several years and continues to accelerate. Hospice leads the health care sector in terms of investor interest and valuations, but providers may hit some walls if workforce shortages worsen. Among the driving forces behind this continued acceleration include demographic tailwinds, rising demand and […]
As the Biden administration reviews value-based programs put forth during the Trump years, hospice and palliative care providers have had to recalibrate as the new payment models they were expecting hang in limbo, including the direct contracting program and the Primary Care First Serious Illness Population (SIP) model. Regarding the SIP model, providers have little […]
The majority of hospice patients are seniors by far, but providers are recognizing and responding to a growing need for pediatric services. As more families learn about the nature of hospice — and as more health care moves into the home setting — demand is escalating. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge for […]
The United States is one year into the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact on hospice providers has been profound. Hospices have adapted to the realities of the public health emergency in ways that will continue to shape the care they provide as well as their business operations for years to come. Last year almost […]
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