Two Cuts Are Too Much
Since early 2008, the hospice community has been working hard on behalf of the patients and families we serve, to protect the Medicare Hospice Benefit from reductions that would hinder patient access to hospice services and force some hospice programs to shut their doors completely. We have had some great successes and a few set- backs. Accordingly, the battle to protect patient access to hospice continues!
Hospice has been hit with an administrative cut as well as being one of the many provider groups impacted by a payment reduction in the Affordable Care Act. Here are the cuts currently facing the hospice community:
Beginning in October 2009, CMS began a seven-year phase out of the Budget Neutrality Adjustment Factor (BNAF), a key element in the Medicare hospice wage index that will ultimately result in a permanent reduction in hospice reimbursement rates of 4.2 percent.
The Affordable Care Act imposed an additional change to the Medicare hospice formula that will further cut hospice payments by approximately 11.8 percent over the next 10 years through the introduction of a “productivity adjustment” on the calculation of annual payment updates for hospice.
This productivity adjustment assumes that providers increase their productivity over time through the use of fewer or less expensive products or increased efficiency through the adoption of new technology. Hospice, however, is a highly labor-intensive model of care where such productivity gains are not as achievable relative to other areas of our health care system. Uniquely, the hospice community will not benefit from the significantly increased numbers of newly insured hospice patients because virtually all hospice patients are Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries.
Click here for "Two Cuts Are Too Much" archive documents.
Resources:
Current Rate Cut Messaging Document
For Hospice Programs: NHPCO Medicare Rate Calculator. NHPCO members can use our calculator to see the impact these two cuts will have on their programs.