CMS Announces 2.8 Percent Increase in Hospice Payment Rule

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Hospice Payment Rule last week. Under the rule, Medicare hospice payments could grow by as much as 2.8 percent, or $720 million, next year. It proposes to update the Medicare payment rates for hospice care in FY 2024 based on a 3 percent update to the market basket.

Hospices that do not submit quality data as required by CMS will receive a pay cut of 1.2 percent. CMS proposes to start deducting four percentage points, rather than two percentage points, from the annual hospice payment update percentage for hospices that fail to meet quality reporting requirements.

The rule solicits comments regarding:

• the provision of higher levels of hospice care;
• spending patterns for non-hospice services provided during the election of the hospice benefit;
• ownership transparency;
• equipping patients and caregivers with information to inform hospice selection; and
• ways to examine health equity under the hospice benefit.

The rule also proposes:

• codifying hospice data submission thresholds;
• updating hospice survey and enforcement procedures; and
• requiring hospice certifying physicians to be Medicare-enrolled or to have validly opted out.

The rule does not touch upon continuation of telehealth practice for the provider type. A CMS fact sheet on the rule can be found here, and a LeadingAge National article is here. Members should also note that LeadingAge National will be holding a hospice member call to review the various provisions of the rule on Tues., April 11^th at 2 p.m.