Don’t jump the gun on VBID hospice changes for Medicare Advantage. “Starting in CY 2024, the Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model’s hospice benefit component will cover hospice election start dates from January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2024,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reminds in a message to providers. “This fall, CMS will share more detailed, provider-specific information about CY 2024.” For the present, “we haven’t made any changes for CY 2023,” CMS underscores. Reminder: CMS issued its Calendar Year 2024 Request for Applications for VBID back in January 2023 (see HHHW by AAPC, Vol. XXXII, No. 3). This year, 15 Medicare Advantage Organizations are testing the inclusion of the Part A hospice benefit in MA through 119 plan benefit packages (PBPs). That’s up from 115 PBPs in 2022 and 53 PBPs in 2021, according to CMS. Those PBPs are running in 806 counties, up from 461 counties in 2022 and 206 counties in 2021.