Medicare Terminating the Hospice Component of the Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the model testing the “hospice carve-in” for Medicare Advantage (MA) will end on December 31, 2024. The hospice component of the Medicare Advantage VBID model suffered from declining participation and several operational challenges. Not only was it difficult for hospices to join networks and receive timely payment for claims, but there was also disappointment with the low use of palliative care and transitional concurrent hospice care. This low utilization was likely due to a poor understanding of eligibility, along with a lack of standardized processes for identification and access. At the end of the hospice VBID model, there will be no Medicare payment models explicitly including palliative care.
The National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care continues conversations with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) about the needs of beneficiaries with serious illness and the proven impact of concurrent hospice and palliative care