The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has once again recommended a 20% cut to the aggregate cap for hospice payments. The commission also called on Congress to wage adjust the cap. MedPAC has called for similar cuts annually since 2018, but to date, Congress has not implemented these reductions. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and […]
Traditions Health
As the health care ecosystem changes, hospices will have to evolve. Going forward, this will likely include more engagement with managed care organizations. Though hospices operate within the dedicated Medicare benefit, market forces in the system at large wield considerable influence on how they operate — including the meteoric rise of managed care. This is […]
Offering hospice can be a game changer for skilled nursing and assisted living operators looking to stand out from competitors and improve patient reach. Home-based care, including hospice, has become an increasingly attractive space for facility-based health care providers of all walks. Assisted living and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have been joining the mix, taking […]
Hospice leaders would like to see some changes in the space this year, particularly around staffing, payer relationships and regulation. Hospice executives in December 2022 shared their predictions for what would happen in the space during 2023. To follow up, a range of CEOs discussed with Hospice News what they would like to see happen […]
In 2022, the hospice community laid the groundwork for a transformational 2023. This year saw industry-changing acquisitions, some of the worst labor headwinds to date, the return of sequestration and a sometimes volatile national economy. During late 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed new approaches for enforcing hospice […]
More hospice and palliative care providers are pursuing joint ventures with hospitals and health systems. Joint ventures offer unique advantages compared to traditional referral streams, according to Aaron Stein, COO of Contessa Health, a subsidiary of Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED). Joint ventures allow providers to develop integrated care models that build improved transitions of care, said […]
While their merits are hotly debated, the substance of certificate of need laws often exist in a state of flux. Certificate of need (CON) laws have a huge influence on hospices’ ability to expand patients’ access to care, as well as impact the competitive landscape and quality of care in a given market. A myriad […]
More hospitals and health systems are stepping into the home-based hospice space, often seeing joint ventures as a promising route to a return on their investment. While there are several factors driving facility-based health care organizations to eye home-based care, more than anything, hospices and other providers should simply be aware that the “normal” look […]
The labor pressures in the hospice community are straining clinical operations, but the issue is also becoming a more pressing concern when it comes to mergers and acquisitions. Buyers, in fact, are paying much closer attention to workplace culture and human resources as they select acquisition targets. Hospice M&A has been exploding in recent years […]
Mergers-and-acquisition activity continues to boom in the hospice space this year. Deal volume may exceed the record number from the prior two years. As many as 61% of the 203 hospice care professionals who responded to a recent Hospice News Outlook Survey and Report said they anticipate that hospice M&A activity will increase during 2022. […]