Archive for MedPAC
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→
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→
Recently, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization leaders refused to consider independent hospices’ proposals for hospice Cap Reform that would improve patient access to end-of-life care, save hundreds of independent hospices facing bankruptcy from Cap demands, and save Medicare money.
NHPCO leaders confirmed directly to NAHA that they will support no meaningful Cap reform in 2009. Instead, they will propose that Congress spend $150 million to protect large urban hospices from future Cap exposure by raising cap allowances, but only in big cities. 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→
