Guide to Hospice Care 2023 Edition Now Available!

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Current

Resources

Find all Current Resources from 2023 below. 

NOTE: Summer Conference links can be found in JUNE; Winter Workshop in DECEMBER.

December 2023

December FYI

FYI 23.12 

December TOT

TOT 23.12 

2023

Winter Workshop

November 2023

November FYI

FYI 23.11

November TOT

TOT 23.11

Subscriber Webinar

2022

title

The Hospice OIG reports issued over the past few years as well as concerns regarding patient care and fraud have led to statutory and regulatory changes and increased governmental scrutiny of hospice and palliative programs. This session will address some of the changes that have been made, the current state of governmental auditing and oversight, and what hospices can expect in the future.

Speakers:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C

October 2023

October FYI

FYI 23.10:

October TOT

TOT 23.10 

Subscriber Webinar

2023

Hospice Discharge Doors

CMS brings the final decisions on items proposed for hospices in the proposed rule from this spring, and Hospice Fundamentals brings the recommendations for the prudent hospice for implementation and compliance.

Speakers:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C

September 2023

September FYI

FYI 23.9 – Hospice Final Rule- and More!

CMS published the Hospice payment rule with a 3.1% increase.

September TOT

TOT 23.9 – Technical Components of a Payment Audit

Use this checklist prior to billing to ensure your payment is secured.

Subscriber Webinar

2023

The Final Rule

CMS brings the final decisions on items proposed for hospices in the proposed rule from this spring, and Hospice Fundamentals brings the recommendations for the prudent hospice for implementation and compliance.

Speakers:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C

August 2023

August FYI

FYI 23.8 – CMS Strategy to Curb Hospice Fraud

CMS explains new initiatives to curb fraud in blog post.

August TOT

TOT 23.8 – Knowing your Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) Timelines

CMS encourages providers to befamiliar with these important dates.

Subscriber Webinar

2023

Integrative Medicine in Hospice Care

Polypharmacy is a significant concern in the palliative care setting. Integrative Medicine uses science-based modalities to improve common symptoms with fewer side-effects and complications than prescription medications. This presentation will provide the latest evidence for yoga breathing, acupuncture, sound sleep, physical activity and nutritional approaches to improve quality of life in hospice care.

Speaker:

Ashwin Mehta, MD, MPH

July 2023

July FYI

FYI 23.7 – OIG Looks at Direct Admissions to GIP
from Hospital Stays

The OIG has announced a new focus for reviews that will impact your hospice agency. They are looking at the increase in GIP utilization upon direct admission from a hospital. See the FYI for all the details.

July TOT

TOT 23.7 – Long LOS Worksheet

This tool is to assist with identifying changes in patients’ condition to help support eligibility for the hospice benefit. Use this tool when your patient is approaching the six month mark, and beyond.
 

Subscriber Webinar

July 2023

Review of the Complete Survey Process!

Speakers:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C

June 2023

June FYI

FYI 23.6 – CMS Lifts COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

CMS has rescinded the COVID-19 vaccine mandate regulations. 

June TOT

TOT 23.6 – Hospice General Inpatient Audit

CMS has a long history of scrutiny of hospice use of the general inpatient unit. Utilize this checklist in real time as a self- audit to ensure that you have the documentation needed to support this higher level of care.

2023

Summer Conference

May 2023

May FYI

FYI 23.5 – To Mask- or Not to Mask? Updated CMS Guidance for End of PHE

CMS and the CDC have provided additional clarifications on masking and the impact to agencies now that the PHE has ended. CDC and CMS have provided agencies with some “final guidance”- and promises more to come.

May TOT

TOT 23.5 – How CMS Views SNF vs NF 

CMS shines a light on our billing habits each year with the
release of our PEPPER reports. It has been noted that more
agencies are outliers in offering care in a “SNF”. After investigating, most agencies find that they simply didn’t have the correct “Q code” on the claim to describe the facility is receiving care. This tool will aide your agency in ensuring you have the right code being reported
to CMS, and keep you off the RADAR.

Subscriber Webinar

May 2023

Wage Index, PEPPER Data and Quality Reporting Updates

Hospices across the nation eagerly await the Proposed Rule for information on changes to regulatory requirements and reimbursement, and the opportunity to provide comments to CMS. We’ll review and discuss the provisions of the proposed rule and, from the musings in the narrative, try to discern what is on the mind of CMS. CMS provides free benchmarking payment data in the PEPPER report. This year the report features some new metrics. Review the trends in the established data benchmarks, as well as the new data being provided to the industry. It should be noted that this data is used by auditors, including the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) and certainly should be used by all prudent hospices.

Speaker:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C

April 2023

April FYI

FYI 23.4 – CMS Updated Hospice Payment Data in new PEPPER

The annual Hospice PEPPER for 2022 was released by CMS and the PEPPER contractor on April 6th, 2023, and is available for download.

April TOT

TOT 23.4 – Compliance Updates after End of PHE

TOT 23.4.a – Medicare Telehealth Post-Public Health Emergency (PHE)

Subscriber Webinar

April 2023

Gift Giving and Referral Sources

Is your sales team overwhelmed with CMS regulations? Do you provide annual education? This is a webinar that will simplify the rules and keep your organization compliant.

Speaker:

Timothy E. Monaghan Partner, Shutts & Bowen, LLP

March 2023

March FYI

FYI 23.3 – PAC Quality Exemptions when Discharging
to Hospice

Election of hospice by patients who utilized home health now provides home health an exemption from quality measures. CMS published an Update to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program Measure Calculations and Reporting User’s Manual, Version 2.0.

March TOT

TOT 23.3 – Staff & Patient Questions from the Surveyor

Subscriber Webinar

March 2023

Revisions to Hospice - Appendix M

We will provide you with a step-by-step of all the changes, plus a tool to ensure that you can “check off” that your agency is ready for the updated survey.

Speaker:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C

February 2023

February FYI

FYI 23.2 – End to the Hospice PHE Waivers

The administration has stated that they anticipate only extending the Public Health Emergency (PHE) one more month, ending the three-year-long PHE on April 11th, 2023. 

February TOT

TOT 23.2 – Quick Reference Guide
HOSPICE PHYSICIANS

Subscriber Webinar

February 2023

Identifying the Attending Physician

Is it clear to your team who the attending Physician is? This webinar will assist you on how your Hospice designates the attending Physician and documents it accurately.

Speaker:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C, Hospice Fundamentals

January 2023

January FYI

FYI 23.1 – CMS Quality Updates for Hospices!

CMS has updated their Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) tools and website. CMS has established a multi-faceted quality reporting program. These measures come from the Hospice Item Set, claims measures and the Hospice CAHPS survey feedback.

January TOT

TOT 23.1 – Evaluation and Management Audit Tool Supplement

Subscriber Webinar

January 2023

ELIGIBILITY - The First Steps to a Successful Hospice

Does everyone on your team understand the Eligibility process? In this webinar, we will help you stay compliant by providing you with tools and guidelines for determining Hospice Eligibility.

Speaker:

Annette Lee, RN, MS, HCS-D, COS-C, Hospice Fundamentals