Hospice utilization rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, but fraud casts a shadow

Hospice utilization rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, but fraud casts a shadow 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 12/17/24 
The nation’s hospice utilization rate among Medicare decedents has once again surpassed 50%, for the first time since the pandemic. However, fraud issues in the space create questions around the quality of care patients are receiving. Hospice utilization reached 51.7% in 2023, up more than two percentage points from the prior year, according to recent data from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). This is the highest rate since 2019. MedPAC observed increases in utilization across the board, even when stratified into subgroups by age, sex, race and rural or urban location. ... Despite these positive trends, an influx of new hospices continued in states considered hotbeds for Medicare fraud, including Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas. Many of these new additions came in areas where additional hospices were likely not necessary based on the needs of the patient population. Georgia also saw a large spate of new providers emerge in 2023.