Hospice provider experience underscores urgency of program integrity efforts

Hospice provider experience underscores urgency of program integrity efforts: Findings reveal current audit process' shortcomings 
HomeCare News; 3/12/24 
Following a series of meetings with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Members of Congress on efforts to improve and protect hospice program integrity, four national hospice organizations—LeadingAge, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI)—released findings of a hospice provider survey that the organizations say underscores the urgency and need for CMS and Congress to act. 

Areas of emphasis during these conversations included:

• The need for hospice audits to appropriately target bad actors and those with deficient quality indicators.
• A request for CMS to be more transparent regarding the outcomes of the audit adjudication process, including by making denial and appeals data available to providers and the public.
• Reemphasis on the importance of auditor training to ensure expertise on hospice specific issues, which are distinctly separate from those faced by hospitals or home health agencies.