I saw this article the other day and meant to blog about it but didn’t have time.
Hundreds of hospice providers across the country are facing the catastrophic financial consequence of what would otherwise seem a positive development: their patients are living longer than expected.
Over the last eight years, the refusal of patients to die according to actuarial schedules has led the federal government to demand that hospices exceeding reimbursement limits repay hundreds of millions of dollars to Medicare.
Hospice provides palliative and non-curative care for people who are diagnosed as having only six or fewer months to live. Much of what is provided through hospice is indistinguishable from long term care – many of the particular services and supports look exactly the same as what is provided to people who are elderly or have disabilities but are not considered terminally ill. Some hospice is provided in facilities but much is provided in the home and community. Thus, for hospice patients who continue to live – and live in their own home or somewhere other than a nursing facility – their hospice services are long term care services.
