If just 20 percent of Medicare decedents used hospice for two weeks before death, the program could save $237 million annually in spending, says a new report commissioned by the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. The savings amount increases by percentage of decedents and duration of hospice use, with Medicare saving an estimated $2.43 billion annually if 100 percent of decedents used hospice for 24 weeks, says the report by Dobson Davanzo & Associates. Law- and policy-makers should take care to “preserve the integrity of the hospice benefit as Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, ACOs and other organizational delivery forms as they expand in coming years,” the policy brief also cautions. The 41-page report is at www.nhpco.org/sites/default/files/public/regulatory/Hospice_Policy_Brief.pdf.