New payment model comes with many worries for hospices. A first look at how Medicare Advantage plans will include hospice in their programs is failing to reassure many hospices. Background: About a year ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that it would test out including hospice in Medicare managed care plans’ offerings starting in 2021 (see Eli’s Hospice Insider, Vol. 12, No. 3). Now CMS has issued a detailed Request for Applications document for the Value-Based Insurance Design demonstration project, and encourages MA plans to submit applications by March and a final bid by June 1. While CMS’s 44-page RFA document reveals lots of new information, it also leaves out many specifics, including exactly how it will generate reimbursement rates for the so-called hospice carve-in. Important points the RFA spells out: Plans Can Look At Hospice-Provided Doc Services, Weekend Visits Industry representatives are expressing their reservations over the initial details. The National Association for Home Care & Hospice “has long-standing concerns that carving hospice care into the MA benefit package will diminish the integrity of the hospice benefit,” the trade group says in its member newsletter. “While this model creates options that have the potential to better support patients with serious illness (including through advance care planning and palliative-type services), inclusion of the hospice benefit in the model is not necessary to take such action, and may work to undermine hospice as the foundation of our nation’s system for end-of-life care.” The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization also has doubts about the carve-in. While the trade group “supports innovation that enhances opportunity for access to high-quality, interdisciplinary care, NHPCO continues to have serious concerns about timing for implementation, the impact on beneficiary access to high-quality care, and lack of beneficiary protections,” it says in a release. Failing to waive the six-month prognosis requirement for eligibility is a big “missed opportunity,” NHPCO continues. Another issue is the short timeframe. “Plans do not have sufficient time to establish provider networks, and providers do not have time to negotiate contracts with MA plans, especially the many smaller programs that provide high-quality care to underserved and rural areas,” NHPCO argues. One helpful change would be adding an ombudsman program to the model, NHPCO suggests in its statement. Hospices should take note that plans may propose to exclude hospice providers that are “found through publicly available data or sources to pose a risk for beneficiary harm” or “consistently [have] not offered all four levels of hospice care, infrequently provided physician services, or rarely provided care on weekends.” Note: More information, including a link to the RFA document, is at https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/vbid.