In a nutshell:
It updates the hospice wage index, payment rates, and cap amounts for FY 2025 (beginning October 1, 2024). It also rearranges CBSAs, making some areas rural that used to be urban and others, it changes to urban when they used to be rural, based on the Decennial Census in 2020.
It also clarifies differences between the hospice "election statement" and the "notice of election," also known as the NOE. And it clarifies who can certify terminal illness admit patients for hospice services. Also included are summaries of comments requested about a potential policy to pay hospices more for providing high-intensity palliative care as well as acknowledgement of information submitted on potential future social determinants of health (SDOH) elements.
The rule finalizes Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) measures that the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) collects, including two new HOPE-based measures, as well as plans for further developing the HOPE. It also finalizes changes to the hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (H CAHPS) Survey.
No big surprises. But some important stuff.
Happy reading!
Beth