Gentiva has agreed to pay $19.4 million to resolve False Claims Act complaints that predate the company’s acquisition of Kindred at Home. The U.S. Justice Department alleges that Kindred at Home and related entities knowingly submitted false claims and retained overpayments for hospice services provided to patients who were ineligible. The federal government and the […]
Category: Regulation
Fraudulent activity in the hospice space may be leaving some families without sufficient bereavement support. Fraudulent hospice schemes can take a tremendous toll on families that have lost loved ones who received poor or negligent end-of-life care, according to Cheryl Kraus, director of government affairs and policy at the Hospice & Palliative Care Association of […]
The hospice community is contributing input to the development of the forthcoming Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) is in the process of drafting the bill that, if enacted, would represent the most significant reforms to date for hospice payment and oversight. The legislation is currently in a […]
The Pennsylvania state Senate has approved a bill proposing to expand staffing requirements around death proclamations to include a wider breadth of hospice clinicians. If enacted, the legislation would allow licensed practical nurses (LPNs) providing hospice care to make death pronouncements. Death pronouncement requirements in the state are currently limited to professional registered nurses (RNs), […]
The forthcoming Hospice Care Accountability, Reform and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act from U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenaur (D-Oregon), if enacted, would implement a number of changes to medical review processes. Blumenauer announced the bill in June at the Hospice News Elevate conference in Washington D.C. Though the bill language is still in development, it will likely […]
Efforts to establish potential payment mechanisms for high-acuity palliative services within the Medicare Hospice Benefit will require greater clarity from regulators, according to the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC). The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2025 proposed hospice payment rule contained a request for information (RFI) on the potential implementation of […]
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down today will make it more difficult for agencies like the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to regulate health care providers. The 6-3 ruling overturned a 1984 decision that established the “Chevron Doctrine,” which instructed lower courts to defer to executive branch agencies to resolve ambiguities […]
The future outlook of hospice compliance is a mixed bag of uncertainty as program integrity oversight heats up alongside evolutions in telehealth regulation. Hospices today are facing one of the most challenging regulatory environments that the industry has seen, according to Pamela Duncan Owens, chief compliance officer of Agape Care. A portfolio company of Ridgemont […]
Hospices have been advocating for lawmakers and regulators to take action on curbing fraud, supporting veterans and bolstering the health care workforce. A group of hospice leaders recently participated in Hospice Action Week, a lobbying event held last week by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and the Hospice Action Network. In their […]
Development of the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform, and Enforcement (Hospice CARE) Act has signaled that a wave of change may be on the horizon in end-of-life care delivery – including how patients are certified to receive these services. Earlier this month Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) announced the landmark legislation at the Hospice News Elevate conference […]
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