Hospice News August 18, 2022
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reiterated that the agency will not allow hospices to recertify patients after the COVID-19 public health emergency expires.
CMS published a blog and a series of fact sheets today that the agency described as a “roadmap” for health care providers to navigate the regulatory changes that will come when the PHE ends. This includes the fate of 1135 waivers that established temporary regulatory flexibility to help providers roll with the pandemic’s punches.
Among these flexibilities was the expansion of telehealth utilization, including recertification.
“Face-to-face encounters for purposes of patient recertification for the Medicare hospice benefit can now be conducted via telehealth (i.e., two-way audio-video telecommunications technology that allows for...