Home Health & Hospice Week

Longer LOS, more for-profits wear out hospice industry's goodwill. MedPAC's proposed cuts for hospices may not be as steep as for some other providers, but they'll still cut deep next year if Congress heeds the advisory body's new recommendations. In a Jan. 14 meeting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee approved a recommendation to leave hospices' inflation update intact for 2011, but make a "productivity" adjustment that would reduce the rate of increase (see related box, p. 26). With the 2011 market basket level currently projected to be 2.4 percent, the productivity adjustment would bring hospices' increase down to 1.1 percent, noted MedPAC staffer Kim Neuman at the meeting. Of course, the inflation update is subject to change before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services actually sets rates, noted MedPAC Chair Glenn Hackbarth. On one hand: Hospices are faring better than many other providers in MedPAC's 2011 recommendations. Home health agencies, [...]