Home Health & Hospice Week

Not sure if you want to participate in Medicare’s new concurrent care demonstration? It will test out the provision of palliative care to patients who meet hospice benefit eligibility guidelines, but who do not give up curative treatment. A new set of questions-and-answers may help you decide.

Background: As many as 30 Medicare-certified hospices may participate in the demo, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says. Participating providers will receive $400 per beneficiary per month (PBPM) to provide the palliative care services.

In one new Q&A, CMS clarifies that hospices in the demo must furnish bereavement care to families of patients who die while in the program.

In another Q&A, CMS specifies that hospices should be prepared to participate for the entire three years of the demo.

Applications for the program are due June 19, CMS reminds in the Q&A. The MCCM Request for Applications is at http://innovation.cms.gov/Files/x/MCCM-RFA.pdf.