The Hospice Medicare Advantage Carve-In Moves Forward
CMS has released a fact sheet about VBID which, among many changes, includes the Medicare Advantage Carve-In Demonstration for hospice. From CMS: CY 2021 VBID Request for Applications CMS is …
Insights and News
New Medicare Card Flyer for Your Patients
CMS finished mailing new Medicare cards. The new cards without Social Security numbers offer better identity protection. Help protect your patient’s personal identity by getting their new Medicare Beneficiary Identifier …
The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Individual Mandate is Unconstitutional
A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, but it stopped short of striking down the entire healthcare law. Two judges on the three-judge …
Frequently Asked Questions on the New Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation (HOPE) Tool
CMS has posted two documents that articulate key information about efforts to develop a new patient assessment tool for hospice to be proposed in future rulemaking. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) …
Hospice Provider Preview Reports Now Available
From CMS: Hospice provider preview reports and Hospice CAHPS Survey provider preview reports have been updated and are now available. These two separate reports are available in your CASPER non-validation …
CMS Releases More Info on the New Home Infusion Therapy Benefit
The article contains information for entities seeking accreditation to become qualified suppliers that furnish home infusion therapy (HIT) services in coordination with the furnishing of home infusion drugs administered through …
Fewer Plans Offer Supplemental Benefits for Serious Illness in 2020
Fewer plans than expected added supplemental benefits such as home care for seriously ill patients in 2020, according to a new report from Healthcare Dive. A minority of Medicare Advantage …
Reminder: Less Than Two Weeks to Sign Up for iQIES!
All home health agencies need access to the upgraded Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) to submit assessment data beginning January 1. The rollout of iQIES will not require …
MedPAC Recommends a 20% Reduction to the Hospice Aggregate Payment Cap
At MedPAC’s most recent meeting, it was revealed that they are recommending a 20% reduction to the Hospice Aggregate Payment Cap. MedPAC has pursued similar proposals in the past. Today, …
CMS Releases 2018 National Health Expenditures
Total national healthcare spending in 2018 grew 4.6 percent, which was slower than the 5.4 percent overall economic growth as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to a study …