Hospices have mounting concerns around the potential regulatory impacts that could come with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11. Among the regulatory hotspots is rising scrutiny of how providers used funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Provider Relief Funds (PRF). Roughly $175 billion in PRF funds were […]
Current and former employees of California-based Community Hospice, Inc. have filed a lawsuit to the tune of nearly $5 million in alleged unpaid wages during the pandemic. The hospice company is accused of violating the California Labor Code that stipulates employers must provide sick leave to workers. In the recently filed class action complaint, the […]
In what the agency is calling an effort to promote industry competition and protect consumers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making hospice-ownership data publicly available. HHS is also releasing ownership data for all Medicare-certified home health agencies, the department specified in a Thursday announcement. Federal health care officials had already […]
Industry-wide staffing woes are bleeding into hospices’ compliance programs. Many hospices are struggling not only operationally, but also financially to comply with regulations, according to Norbert Hudak, partner at in90Group, a Los Angeles-based business marketing and strategy development company. The company recently polled 100 home health and hospice executives on their biggest quality and compliance […]
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 […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving towards the development of health equity quality measures for hospices. Last year, the agency convened a technical expert panel (TEP) to study the issue, according to language in its 2024 proposed hospice rule. Among the questions the panel has considered is the addition of […]
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted Eduardo Lopez, a former hospice executive and current senior vice president of a private equity firm, for violations of the Sherman Act. Lopez is charged with agreeing to “suppress and eliminate competition” for nursing services between March 2016 and May 2019, the U..S. Justice Department has indicated. The department […]
Kristal Glover-Wing, the former owner of Louisiana-based Angel Care Hospice, has been found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Angel Care enrolled 24 patients in hospice between 2009 through 2017 who did not meet Medicare eligibility requirements. […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking answers from the hospice community — including some around utilization patterns and non-hospice spending. The recently proposed 2024 hospice payment rule contained a 2.8% reimbursement base-rate increase as well as provisions designed to support program integrity. Further, it included a trove of data and […]
Two hospice fraud cases are moving forward in California and Arizona, states that some stakeholders consider to be potential hotbeds of malfeasance in the space. Karen Sarkisyan, a.k.a. Kevin Sarkisyan, of San Gabriel Hospice & Palliative Care, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government for his involvement in submitting false enrollment […]
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