Hospices Decry 20% Payment Cut Mulled by Medicare Advisers (1)

The hospice industry is up in arms over a congressional advisory panel’s proposed recommendation calling for a 20% cut in Medicare’s annual per-patient payment limit for hospice providers.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s draft recommendation, revealed at its Dec. 6 meeting, would trim Medicare’s $29,995 annual hospice payment limit to $23,996 per beneficiary.

Frustrated by substantial overpayments to hospice providers, the commission is also moving to recommend that a wage adjustment to reflect area pay differences be added to the payment cap. The commission is also slated to recommend eliminating the scheduled 2.4% payment update for hospice providers in fiscal ...