The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is extending the Medicare Care Choices Model by one year. The program is now expected to remain in effect until Dec. 31, 2021, meaning that providers can enroll eligible beneficiaries through June 30, 2021 and provide supportive services through the program’s scheduled end date. Through the […]
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in its June report to Congress indicated that it was adding advance care planning to its work plan. The OIG Work Plan details the office’s projects for the current and future fiscal years, including audits and evaluations. An issue may come […]
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) will accept Letters of Intent from hospices and other providers that seek to participate in the professional or global Primary Care First Direct Contracting models until July 6. The direct contracting options include three voluntary payment models that are designed to help the U.S. Centers for Medicare […]
A group of U.S. Senators are calling on their colleagues in Congress and federal agencies to make permanent the increased availability of telehealth that was established temporarily to maintain continuity of care while limiting the spread of COVID-19. The lawmakers made their views known in a letter penned by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai) to Senate […]
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has called upon the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make permanent regulatory flexibilities that allowed hospices to expand telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Declaration of a national disaster allows the HHS to waive certain regulatory requirements under section 1135 of the Social […]
Hospices have struggled to access patients in nursing homes since the initial stages of the novel coronavirus pandemic. As visiting restrictions start to lift with states reopening, many hospice providers remain cautiously optimistic about minimizing COVID-19 exposure risks for staff. Closing doors to visitors and clinicians was a crucial move for many nursing homes working […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is delaying the start of the performance period for the Serious Illness Population payment model, which is part of the agency’s Primary Care First initiative. The program, previously set to begin January 1, will begin April 1, 2021. The Primary Care First general option is still […]
A proposed House bill, Helping Our Senior Population in Comfort Environments (HOSPICE) Act, could increase accreditors and U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) survey frequency from every three years to every other year for hospices. These provisions — and the public reporting of accreditation survey results — could weigh heavily on both accrediting organizations […]
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) has called on the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) to permanently extend flexibilities for telehealth that the agency has introduced on a temporary basis during the COVID-19 national emergency. CMS has announced a series of regulatory flexibilities that allow hospices to perform more […]
Members of the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for a one-year delay for the value-based insurance design model hospice demonstration, commonly called the Medicare Advantage carve-in. Reps. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) sent a letter to Seema Verma, administrator of the U.S. Centers […]
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