On the Friday afternoon before Easter weekend, CMS dropped a bombshell. In its proposed rule for fiscal year 2020, it lays out an update to the hospice reimbursement rates that would increase all non-routine levels of care significantly. In order to make the change budget-neutral, this means CMS would reduce the scheduled increase to Routine Home Care rates to keep them essentially flat from FY2019 to FY 2020. For hospices that currently provide little or no care at the non-routine levels, this is unadulterated bad news. However, for the average freestanding nonprofit hospice, CMS believes this will have a positive effect of an overall 4.2% increase in revenue. For hospices operating dedicated hospice facilities, I believe the impact may be far better than that.
Read MoreA hospice carve-in under Medicare Advantage may soon create a new environment for how hospice providers access referrals and how they are reimbursed for their services. With an MA carve-in, hospice organizations may need to be “in-network” with that Medicare Advantage plan for plan members to choose their hospice services. How Medicare Advantage plans may select their in- network providers is new territory for both the plans and hospice organizations. It’s important get on track with these changes - and what they mean for your organization - fast.
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