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H.R. 5542, The Preserving Access to Hospice (PATH) Act of 2008
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Karin Johnson DO
Bill is a big mistake. The hospices in trouble have been abusing the hospice benefit on many patients for years. This is one area where medicare is hemorrhaging money. In Tulsa alone we have 70+ hospices. It s a free for all to sign paitents up. NO problem with the benefit for those who really qualify. However, I have personal experience in multiple cases with hospices falsify medical info to keep patients on service and bleed medicare. Now they are getting caught. without this justice, Medicare will run out of money sooner and that will hurt ALL the hospice paitents. A9BAS
Julie
Not all hospices in trouble are abusing the system. For instance, if Medicare wanted to come in and audit every chart we have they would find them all to qualify. However some of them we had to split a cap on because a different hospice picked them up before they qualified and got half the cap. Someone them simply lived longer than six months for whatever reason. Sometimes even patients with a cancer diagnosis live longer than six months. I think Medicare would do better spending their time auditing more charts and catching faudulent hospices then calculating caps and making hospices (at least some) pay back caps for following the rules they set. You can not punish a hospice for keeping a patient that meets every guideline Medicare has set, but lives "to long."
Charles
I'd be glad to let Medicare audit all of my patient charts. Would find no error. However, that doesn't stop them from requesting over $40,000.00 back from me last year.
Ashleigh
Yes, some hospices abuse the system; we cannot deny that. There are many other hospices that haven't abused the system, though. The problem lies within the average length of stay being so short for non-cancerous diagnoses. When you get ALS or end-stage Parkingson's, the patients may live longer that 6 months... we must remember, we are not God and we don't know the exact date someone is going to pass on. The only thing we can do is estimate the life expectancy for the normal course of the disease and care for these patients no matter how long they live. These people deserve to die with dignity and free of pain... these people deserve hospice without restraints. Karin, you need to look into the studies... hospice saves Medicare money. Without hospice, these patients would be in and out of hospitals, using up Medicare funds much quicker than a hospice keeping them on for 10 months.
Jonelle
It is important to note that a small percentage of hospices are currently being affected by the hospice cap crisis;although the number has been increasing steadily over the past 4 yrs. I feel an investigation would be beneficial to hospices as it may determine the cap to be irrelevant. Afterall, the cap was set before patients were able to access the hospice benefit for an unlimited number of 60 day certification periods. The cap was formed when hospice care was delivered as a strict 180 day benefit. This is no longer the case, as the benefit was ammended by the Clinton administration.Karin,this bill was not intended to serve justice to hospices that are abusing the medicare system. Chart audits will reveal falsified care in time. This act was proposed to ensure people have access to quality end of life care despite the ability to live beyond 180 days with a terminal diagnosis.