Medical Director Dr. Lauren Templeton: How Engaged Hospice Physicians Can Drive Quality, Compliance

Dr. Lauren Templeton began her medical career in a surgical internship before transitioning to internal medicine. But in time, her drive to improve patients’ quality of life led her to the hospice and palliative care fields. Templeton now is a hospice physician consultant at Weatherbee Resources as well as medical director for Texas-based Hendrick Hospice […]

COVID-19 Complicates Hospice Compliance With New CMS Addendum Rule

Providers have been strained to comply with the new Medicare requirement for an addendum to the hospice election statement. Gusty pandemic-related headwinds and documentation errors are among the obstacles that hospices are encountering as 2020 comes to a close. The addendum rule that took effect Oct. 1, 2020, requires hospices to provide Medicare beneficiaries with […]

Accessing Hospice PEPPER Reports Can Help Avoid Audits

Hospices who understand and consider their Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Reports (PEPPER) from their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) can leverage that information to anticipate and correct payment issues that could lead to targeted probe and education (TPE) audits if left unaddressed.  PEPPER contains provider-specific Medicare claims data that may indicate or create the […]