Avow Hospice has implemented a triage system that has resulted in improved quality scores and reduced turnover. The Florida-based provider uses an acuity system that draws data from its electronic medical record (EMR) system to help stratify patients based on their most likely immediate needs. To complement these efforts, Avow also revamped its approach to […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has delayed the implementation of hospice certifying physician Medicare enrollment requirements. CMS delayed the date to enroll in or opt out of Medicare until June 3 for physicians who certify hospice services. Stipulated in the 2024 hospice payment rule and part of the Affordable Care Act, […]
Improving education and training for family caregivers may give hospices’ quality scores a boost. Maryland-based Hospice of the Chesapeake has introduced a standardized caregiver training program designed to enhance the work they had previously done in this area. After a review of scientific literature, it became clear that nationally, caregiver training was spotty, and this […]
Though the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in is going away at the end of this year, those operators still have a role to play in value-based care. The carve-in, formally known as the hospice component of the value-based insurance design model (VBID), will expire on Dec. 31. The program was designed to test hospice coverage through […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed 2025 hospice rule contains clarifications on which physicians may certify patients for hospice enrollment. According to language in the proposal, designated physician members of the hospice interdisciplinary team may certify patients for hospice if the medical director is unavailable. The clarification was intended to reconcile […]
A lack of trained staff and evolving health laws are among the leading barriers to expanding perinatal palliative and hospice care among underserved populations. Populations of color often see disparities when it comes to access to perinatal palliative and hospice care, according to Dr. Marilyn Fisher, physician at Albany Medical College, part of the New […]
Palliative care and its core principles may be driving incremental change in the larger health care system. Some of this is likely due to necessity as the nation strains to manage the extensive needs and expensive costs associated with the care of the growing chronically ill senior population. Currently, more than 10,000 individuals become Medicare-eligible […]
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2025 proposed hospice rule contained requests for information (RFIs) that could signal changes in the agency’s thinking on key issues. Through RFIs, CMS tries to take the pulse of providers’ positions on certain questions that could impact the Medicare Hospice Benefit. In its 2025 proposal, one […]
If the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed 2025 hospice rule is finalized as written, hospices may encounter some hurdles implementing some of the new requirements. CMS late last month issued its proposed hospice rule for 2025. The proposal called for a 2.6% increase in hospice per diem base rates, a number […]
Patients in assisted living-based memory care facilities have higher mortality rates and are more likely to enroll in hospice, a new study indicates. Dementia-related illnesses have become one of the most frequently occuring principal diagnoses among hospice patients, tied with cancer, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. In Fiscal Year 2022, 7.5% […]
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