New CMS Medicaid, CHIP Guidance Could Help Clarify Pediatric Palliative Care Payment

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released new guidelines intended to better support state-based pediatric reimbursement systems and help improve equitable health access among youth populations. The new guidance includes best practices for state Medicaid programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to implement and comply with early and periodic […]

Clinical Capacity Palliative Care Leaders’ Top Concern for 2025

Balancing rising demand with recruitment and retention tops the list of palliative care providers’ concerns heading into next year. Nearly nearly 800 palliative care program leaders and interdisciplinary team members from across the country recently weighed in on a survey from the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). Respondents included both adult and pediatric palliative […]

Provider Partnerships Driving Palliative Care Growth

An increasingly diverse base of health care providers have taken an interest in the palliative care space, a trend that could be indicative of how strategic growth is taking shape in the field. As they build out their palliative care programs, many of these organizations are pursuing partnerships to foster coordination and growth. A range […]

‘This Is Different’: Building a Sustainable Palliative Care Workforce

The state of the palliative care workforce is at an inflection point, as employers see both challenges and opportunities in their strategies to boost recruitment and retention. Palliative care providers have weathered many challenges in recent years, including evolving regulations and reimbursement structures, a global pandemic and widespread staffing shortages. Workforce shortages have long plagued […]

‘Payment and Workforce Are Certainly the Challenges’: Forces Shaping Palliative Care’s Future

The palliative care field is in the midst of evolution, with reimbursement and workforce dynamics being the dominant forces influencing sustainable growth in the space. Palliative providers are focusing their greatest efforts on navigating choppy, and often lagging, reimbursement streams to meet increased demand for serious illness care. These streams flow directly into their ability […]

Focus Group Study: 30% Believe Hospice Intentionally Hastens Death

About 30% of participants in a recent study said they believe that “hospice intentionally hastens death and the dying process.” The data appeared in a recently developed evidence-based serious illness messaging toolkit from the MessageLab Serious Illness Messaging Project. The toolkit identifies new approaches for hospice and palliative care providers to break down barriers of […]

Palliative Care Needs a Defined Scope to Expand Access, Reimbursement

A primary barrier for patient and family access to palliative care is a lack of standardized definition and payment mechanism. Without an established palliative care benefit or universally recognized definition in place, care delivery models, patient experiences and reimbursement of palliative care services vary widely across the nation. Consequently, many providers and payers don’t have […]

Labor Shortage, Referral Stream Recovery Top of Mind for Hospices

More than 67% of the 203 hospice care professionals surveyed indicated that staffing was their greatest non-COVID related challenge in 2022, according to the 2022 Hospice News Outlook Survey and Report. This is a rise from 33% the prior year. Staffing shortages have long been a thorn in the side of the hospice industry and […]

Societal Factors, Poor Coordination Impede Advance Care Planning Outcomes

Fragmentation and variation in advance care planning processes are undermining the effectiveness of those services, according to recent research. A range of societal factors, regulatory hurdles and a lack of care coordination between health care settings have erected barriers between patients and services that are aligned with their priorities. Prior studies have shown that advance […]

Election 2020: The Stakes for Hospice, Palliative Care

With the election looming, both Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic Candidate Joe Biden have taken positions that could reshape Medicare for the foreseeable future. From the conservative camp’s calls to repeal the Affordable Care Act to Biden’s proposal to lower the eligibility age, the outcome of the election could change some of the ways […]