Home Health & Hospice Week

Know what's required and what's not under the new hospice mandate.

Hospices need to get ready for more than just the discharge for cause change--the new hospice care amendments hand down another work-intensive requirement.

The regulation imposes a discharge planning requirement on hospices when the patient is found to be no longer terminally ill. "The discharge planning process must include planning for any necessary family counseling, patient education, or other services before the patient is discharged because he or she is no longer terminally ill," the regulation spells out.

This new mandate "may require more work," acknowledges hospice consultant Heather Wilson with Weatherbee Resources in Yarmouth Port, MA. "But it is good practice and most hospices are already doing it when discharging patients for reasons other than death."

Most hospices are also already documenting the activities, believes Janet Neigh with the Hospice Association of America, so the additional work should be minimal.

Hospices shouldn't feel pressured to take on more than they have to under the new requirement. "CMS clarifies in the commentary to the regulations that hospices are not required to implement discharge plans," points out Burtonsville, MD-based health care attorney Elizabeth Hogue. "They are only required to provide referrals and options to patients. It is up to patients and their families to avail themselves of alternate sources of care."