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Hospice Care

Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

Aetna: Change Medicare hospice rules to improve care, cut costs

Palliative and hospice care improvements can lead to an increase in satisfaction and care quality for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with advanced illness and a drop in unnecessary services, according to Aetna.

Hospice payments to rise slightly under CMS proposal

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposes a modest bump in payments for hospice providers, but the agency also wants to limit dispensing prescriptions to reduce unnecessary and pricey duplications.

Palliative care training can improve patient outcomes

Healthcare workers who received palliative care training at six medical centers improved patient outcomes in four areas, according to a new study published in the  Journal of General Internal Medicine.

MedPAC to freeze payments to ASCs, hospices, inpatient rehab hospitals beginning 2015

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Friday adopted final payment recommendations that affect non-acute care providers in 2015 and beyond,  AHA News Now  reported

Docs who would use hospice themselves more likely to talk end-of-life care with patients

New research shows doctors who want care to prevent pain and suffering at the end of their own lives are more likely to talk about that kind of care with patients facing the same dilemma, according to a study published in the  Journal of the American Medical Association.

Hospitals make varied progress on end-of-life care

A new Dartmouth Atlas report shows Medicare patients have experienced improvements in end-of-life care, with chronically ill beneficiaries in their last six months of life spending fewer days in the hospital and receiving more hospice services in 2010 than in 2007.

Oklahoma end-of-life law could boost hospital costs

A new law in Oklahoma,   based on guidelines promulgated by the National Right to Life Committee,  could complicate already costly end-of-life issues for hospitals.

Hospital deaths drop 8% with move to hospice, home care

Despite recent emphasis on letting people pass away in a hospice or at home, and patients' preference for it, the number of people who have died in hospitals over the past 10 years has only fallen 8 percent, federal statistics published by the National Center for Health Statistics showed.

Aggressive end-of-life care rises

Researchers found increased intensive care unit use and a higher rate of healthcare transitions during the last month of life, suggesting highly aggressive end-of-life care.

OIG crackdown on hospital billing: Good or bad for patients?

One of the stats that remains in my mind after nearly 20 years as a healthcare journalist came from a 1940s-era guide from the old Orthopaedic Hospital in Los Angeles. The average length of stay at...