Access to hospice and certain services under the hospice benefit for beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease and beneficiaries with cancer
04/21/25 at 03:00 AM
Access to hospice and certain services under the hospice benefit for beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease and beneficiaries with cancer
MedPAC; by Kim Nueman, Grace Oh, and Nancy Ray; 4/11/25
[From MedPac Presentation Roadmap, meetings held April 10 & 11, 2025]
- MedPAC has shown hospice use is substantially lower among decedents with ESRD than decedents overall
- In the 2024 and 2025 hospice proposed rules, CMS stated:
- Beneficiaries may believe Medicare policy prohibits hospices from providing dialysis, radiation, blood transfusions, and chemotherapy
- Such services are covered under the hospice benefit if the hospice provider determines the service is beneficial for an individual patient's symptoms
- CMS sought comment on whether hospice payment changes were warranted
- November 2023 workplan and commissioner interest
Editor's note: What does this mean? Our regulatory colleague Judi Lund Person, MPH, CHC describes, "Patients on dialysis who can't have dialysis and hospice at the same time would have to finish their dialysis in order to elect hospice, or have the hospice pay for the dialysis, which most hospices cannot afford to do."