When it comes to communication and quality of care for Black patients, recent data reinforces the notion that hospices have room to grow. The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) recently released key findings in its research review aimed at uncovering disparities in serious illness care quality and patient experiences among underserved populations. Among the […]
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has extended the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another 90 days. A continued federally declared emergency allows flexibilities instituted by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to remain intact, such as 1135 waivers of certain hospice rules. These flexibilities permitted the use […]
The return of sequestration is adding to the financial storms brewing in hospice, as providers contend with rising costs of delivering patient care, inflation and lackluster reimbursement. Providers are increasingly concerned about their ability to sustain their businesses through choppy waters, calling on regulators to step up support. After a moratorium during the pandemic, Medicare […]
Home-based care provider AccentCare has been busy since its merger with Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care, exploring new technologies and care delivery strategies, as well as expanding business lines. The two companies merged in early 2021 with designs on building a seamless care continuum in the home setting and recently unified all of its business […]
Adventist Health has expanded its hospice services in Mendocino Country, California, both in terms of geography and its scope of services. Adventist Health Hospice of Mendocino County (AHHMC) has been expanding its footprint in communities adjacent to its initial service region near the towns of Willits and Ukiah. The organization in the near future expects […]
The legislature of Oswego County in New York state has voted to close its hospice agency within a year. The county’s hospice program is the latest casualty of the nursing shortage that has rendered a number of organizations unsustainable. Like many providers nationwide, the Oswego agency has been plagued by nurses resigning, leaving them with […]
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Somerset health system is halting inpatient services at its Pennsylvania-based hospice facility, effective Aug. 1. Closure of the In Touch Hospice center has inflamed the community, with cries growing louder to urge UPMC to reconsider the move. The health system cited declining patient admissions as the main reason […]
Margin pressures from the proposed cuts to Medicare home health rates could impact palliative care and hospice. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in June released its proposed home health reimbursement rule for 2023, which included a 4.2% reduction in aggregate payments totaling an estimated $810 million. The agency cited budget neutrality […]
Anti-kickback and fraud cases have proliferated as regulators zero in on the hospice industry. How a hospice works with referral sources can be a red flag that brings providers face-to-face with criminal charges in False Claims Act (FCA) cases. FCA suits can include significant legal repercussions for hospice providers such as imprisonment for committing health […]
More than a dozen hospice advocacy groups have called on congressional leadership to intervene in a proposed 2.7% bump in Medicare payments, which they say is insufficient in light of COVID-19 and staffing headwinds. The organizations signed a letter to party leaders in both chambers of Congress. Signatories included the National Hospice & Palliative Care […]
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