The Strategy Behind CMS’ 2024 Updates to ACO REACH

Three principles are guiding the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2024 updates to the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH) model: care coordination, managing health equity-related risks and social determinants of health. Among a number of new requirements, the agency will also require participating organizations to develop […]

VBID Hospices Operate in a ‘Teeter-Totter’ Landscape

Evolving network adequacy requirements within the value-based insurance design (VBID) model demonstration have some hospices concerned that Medicare Advantage payers may have narrowed views on reimbursement and access.  This year the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced changes to the VBID model that included modifications to network adequacy requirements for Medicare Advantage […]

Quality Data, Cost Control: Hospices’ ‘True North’ in Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage plans are connecting the dots between quality scores and care delivery costs. When choosing a hospice to work with, payers in the Medicare Advantage (MA) realm zero in on providers’ quality scores and its patient population growth potential, according to Frontpoint Healthcare CEO Brent Korte. Consequently, those are key data pieces for hospices […]

CMS: ACO REACH Will Change in 2024

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is making significant changes in 2024 to the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH) payment model. The updates include the introduction of a new approach to payment designed to enhance care delivery and care coordination for patients in underserved communities, according […]

How Medicaid Boosted Palliative Care Utilization

More cancer patients have been receiving palliative care since the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid. About 18.9% of eligible patients received palliative care in states that expanded Medicaid, up from 17% before the ACA provisions took effect on Jan. 1, 2014, according to American Cancer Society research recently published in Health Affairs. Among non-expansion states, […]

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 […]

Value-Based Care: What Hospices Can Learn from Home Health Companies

When it comes to value-based payment models, home health has a head start on hospice. But those providers’ experiences can lend some insights into how hospices can prepare themselves. Hospices are only now taking their first steps into value-based reimbursement. To date, much of this has centered around diversified programs like palliative care, PACE and […]

NHPCO: Proposed 2.8% Hospice Payment Hike Insufficient 

The 2.8% base payment rate increase recently proposed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is insufficient to support hospice patients’ care needs, a major industry group said. CMS earlier this month released its 2024 hospice proposed rule, which included the 2.8% increase — an estimated total of $720 million. If finalized […]

CMS’ VBID Plans Raise Questions on Patient Choice, Meaning of ‘Concurrent Care’

As the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extends the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in through 2030, providers are concerned about preserving patient choice and the nature of concurrent care. Originally slated to complete in 2024, CMS recently extended the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID). The agency further announced that […]