Archive for hospice cap reform
Open Letter to MedPAC
Posted by: | CommentsDear MedPAC:
You’re missing opportunities to improve hospice access, reform the cap and save $billions; instead, you’re giving Vitas a $100 million profit windfall Read More→
Hospice Cap Demands “cap patient care”
Posted by: | CommentsThe Clarion-Ledger, a leading Mississippi newspaper concludes that hospice cap demands “cap patient care”.
If you support hospice and hospice access for all, please forward this link to your friends, colleagues, and employees and leave your comments on the article on the Clarion-Ledger.com website.
“Hospice owners in Mississippi are complaining that a federal cap on Medicare payments is forcing them to choose between limiting patient care or going out of business.” (NB: Learn more about the hospice cap and its impact at www.hospiceaccess.org)
“Amanda Knight of Hospice Direct, a for-profit hospice that serves 22 counties in central Mississippi, said the federal government is demanding repayment of Medicare reimbursements from prior years’ care. The repayment demand is based on a formula that, in effect, caps her patient care at six months in an effort to control costs for the program.”
“Knight said the weight of Hospice Direct’s looming government debt – around $5 million at last count – has put her family’s business in jeopardy.”
Read the entire article on the Clarion-Ledger website.
Remember, while the hospice cap has hit Mississippi hospices especially hard, this is not a localized issue. As the Clarion-Ledger reports, more than 400 hospices in 30 states face demands for over $300 million in cap repayments and cap repayment demands have been doubling annually.
A newly released report from NAHA, using the detailed analytical inputs of Avalere Health LLC, a highly renowned healthcare research and analysis firm, clearly suggests that significant systemic barriers to timely patient access to hospice care exist and may be worsening (click the link below to read the first in a series of NAHA reports based on Avalere data).
NAHA Report — Barriers to Access: Medicare Hospice Access and Length of Stay, 2003 – 2007
Avalere’s comprehensive look at hospice use shines light on opportunities to improve access and costs:
- 4 out of 10 hospice patients got no more than 10 days of care
- Only 16% of hospice patients get 60 to 180 hospice days, the range that improves quality and costs
- Minority access to hospice care trails access for whites by 25%
- States where hospices have significant cap issues do best job of serving minorities but access is declining. Will these hospices survive?
Click here to download or read the entire analysis in PDF format.
The report goes on to provide data driven conclusions on Access to Hospice, Timely Access to Hospice, and Length of Stay.
Click here to download or read the entire analysis in PDF format.
Respected Blog Site, Pallimed.org, Asks About Hospice Cap Reform
Posted by: | CommentsChris Sinclair, blogger at www.Pallimed.org, is featuring NAHA and the Hospice Cap Crisis in his most recent post.
He is asking concerned observers to vote on the issue of Hospice Cap Reform.
If you care about hospice access in the United States, you need to make your voice heard.
Go to www.Pallimed.org and vote for Hospice Cap Reform.
Vote now as his survey will close very soon.
