Hospice News November 19, 2024
Medicare made an estimated $190 million in improper payments to acute-care hospitals for outpatient hospice services between 2017 and 2021.
An audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) set out to determine whether Medicare payments to acute-care hospitals for outpatient services provided to hospice enrollees complied with Medicare requirements. OIG found that 70% of those payments were not compliant.
“Our medical reviewer found that Medicare paid acute-care hospitals for outpatient services that palliated or managed hospice enrollees’ terminal illnesses and related conditions,” the OIG report stated. “These services were already covered as part of the hospices’ per diem payments and should have been provided directly by the hospices or under arrangements...
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