Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus: Medicare may prorate hospitals' payment for patients transferred to hospice.The HHS Office of Inspector General continues to remain suspicious of hospice activities related to nursing homes and inpatient care, and the 2013 Work Plan reflects those concerns.The OIG announces only two Medicare hospice topics for review for next year -- "Marketing Practices and Financial Relationships with Nursing Facilities" and "General Inpatient Care." Both are reviews carried over from the current year."In a recent report, OIG found that 82 percent of hospice claims for beneficiaries in nursing facilities did not meet Medicare coverage requirements," the agency notes. Potential problems may include inappropriate enrollment and compensation to the nursing home, as well as aggressive marketing toward residents. "We will focus our review on hospices that have a high percentage of their beneficiaries in nursing facilities," the OIG notes.The OIG has an "ongoing emphasis on marketing and relationships with NFs," says attorney Robert [...]