The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a requirement that would prohibit hospice owners from selling their businesses within 36 months of Medicare enrollment. The agency included these plans in its proposed home health rule for 2024. This is the latest step in the agency’s efforts to improve hospice program integrity […]
When deployed at scale, palliative care can help achieve many of the health care systems current goals, including reduced costs, improved patient satisfaction and quality of life. Despite this potential, existing programs hit barriers created by misconceptions about palliative care among referring physicians, as well as health equity concerns, among others, according to an analysts […]
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently announced plans to launch a new audit that will focus on general inpatient hospice services. Longer general inpatient hospice stays and high-cost issues are reasons for the audit, dubbed the “Audit of Selected, High-Risk Medicare Hospice General Inpatient Services,” […]
The nation’s total health care spend is expected to swell by 5.4% annually between 2022 and 2031, reaching $7.1 trillion. Meanwhile, Medicare hospice spending is expected to more than double by 2032. These data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary also project that health care expenditures will […]
Increasingly, both policymakers and providers are seeing potential opportunities to reform the Medicare Hospice Benefit, including the prospect of concurrent care. Driving these conversations is the need to lighten the nation’s heavy health care spend, which in 2021 reached $4.3 trillion, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Questions are also […]
A new primary care-focused payment model demonstration could create new partnership opportunities for hospice and palliative care providers. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has unveiled the Making Care Primary (MC) model, which will launch in July 2024 in eight states — Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North […]
Patient data collection is critical in how the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is developing health equity quality measures for hospices in value-based payment. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in 2022 announced a “strategy refresh” that included a renewed focus on health care equity in payment model design. Among […]
Although the agency is waiting to formalize the official paperwork, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will no longer enforce the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for hospice staff and other health care workers. The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ended on May 11. The Biden administration earlier this month announced that it would […]
Language in the 2024 proposed rule for the Medicare hospice program gives some indication of where the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is heading when it comes to quality measurement requirements. While the proposal did not introduce any new measures or rules, it did offer clues to changes that could show up […]
Quality data are becoming another arrow in the quiver for hospices seeking to improve retention and recruitment. A hospice’s publicly reported quality data can paint a picture of how an organization stands up against competitors for future and current staff. Quality scores also can serve as a baseline for educating staff on how their roles […]
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