Home Health & Hospice Week

CMS also discusses billing changes, new COPs at industry conference. If you're wondering why policy- and lawmakers are targeting hospice for potential cuts this year and overall benefit changes in the long term, you just need to look at the underlying statistics. That was the message the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services delivered at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice's March on Washington conference March 23. The number of Medicare beneficiaries receiving hospice services has skyrocketed from 401,000 in 1998 to 986,000 in 2007, a 146 percent increase, noted CMS's Lori Anderson in a CMS hospice regulatory panel session. And the number of hospice providers has boomed from 1,834 with 20 percent for-profit to 3,200 with 51 percent for-profit in that time period. Medicare spending on hospice grew from $2 billion to $11 billion during that time. States such as Texas, Utah, Oklahoma, and Mississippi have more than [...]