Archive for length of stay
Who Fact-Checked MedPAC Staff’s Hospice Analysis?
Posted by: | CommentsMedPAC staff’s shoddy hospice analysis is misleading MedPAC Commissioners and healthcare policy; it also misses reform opportunities that would improve patient access and save money. Read More→
The Hospice Cap Crisis – A Tale of Four Hospices
Posted by: | CommentsPrologue: This is about the hospice Cap, a flawed 1982 law that harms patients, hospices and end-of-life care quality, and increases Medicare’s costs. The stories are real and current, but the names have been changed.
NewYork1, Oklahoma1, Georgia1 and Florida1 are four non-profit hospices. Read More→
Hospice: Give ‘Em Help, Harry!
Posted by: | CommentsRecently I got an email from a NAHA (www.hospiceaccess.org) member who, like me, has been a hospice provider for 20 years. Her note said, “Lois, it is now looking as though we will have to close our hospice program. We are faced with paying our people, our bills or the Cap. This is a heart wrenching decision, but with the Medicare CAP burden we were assessed for 2006 and the anticipated cap assessment for 2007, it is impossible to continue.” Read More→
No Expiration Dates Stamped on Hospice Patients
Posted by: | Comments“How sad,” I thought. I had been reading a report of a young patient admitted to the hospice my husband and I and our friends own. After a heart attack at work, the patient was resuscitated, was admitted to a hospital intensive care unit and intubated. Two days later, an EEG showed no brain activity and the family made the difficult decision to extubate the patient and bring him home on hospice care. We admitted him late in the day; our people remained in the home throughout the evening and morning to reassure the family. Read More→
CBS’s Katie Couric and Thalia Assuras: Hospice Cap Threatens Rural Independent Hospice
Posted by: | CommentsThe Hospice Cap threatens the viability of rural independent hospices.
Link to PDF: Hospice Owner Fights Rising Medicare Debts
