Home Health & Hospice Week

Small, rural providers to be hit hardest. Hospices should brace for Medicare reimbursement cuts ahead -- and the proposed 1.1 percent decrease for 2010 could be just the start. The industry is fighting back against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' April 24 proposed rule to reduce Medicare hospice rates by an estimated 1.1 percent in fiscal year 2010 (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XVIII, No. 16, p. 123). The cut is a 3.2 percent reduction due to the wage index change offset by a 2.1 percent inflation update. Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) are seeking co-signers for their "Dear Colleague" letter asking that President Obama permanently restore the budget neutrality adjustment factor (BNAF) to the Medicare hospice benefit wage index update, notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. More than 3,000 hospice jobs were saved when the stimulus bill delayed the BNAF phase-out until [...]