SWHPN’s Tracy Schroepfer Appointed to NQF Palliative and EOL Care Project
Congratulations to Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) Board Member and Executive Committee Member Dr. Tracy Schroepfer on being appointed to the Steering Committee of the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Palliative and End-of-Life Care project. The purpose and mission of this special NQF project is to identify and endorse measures for public reporting [...]
Reimbursement for Advance Care Planning Dropped… Again
In an unfortunate reversal at the start of this year, the Obama administration decided to drop reimbursement for physicians for advance care planning as part of the annual wellness visit for Medicare recipients. This comes as a disappointment to many hospice workers and palliative care providers who incorporate end-of-life discussions into their practice. While patients [...]
New Physician Payment Final Rule Includes Voluntary Advance Care Planning
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pre-posted the 2000+ page physician payment final rule and comments on the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) website. Formal publication in the Federal Register is projected to be November 29, 2010. The final rule includes reimbursement requirements for the new annual wellness/preventive care exam under the [...]
New Transformation Project to Improve Care at the End of Life
Leaders in end-of-life and palliative care, including SWHPN Chair Grace Christ and board member Judy Peres, convened in Washington last week to discuss The Transformation Project: A New Initiative to Substantially Improve Advanced Illness Care. The project is co-directed by Myra Christopher, President and CEO of the Center for Practical Bioethics, and Bill Novelli, Professor [...]
Health Care Reform & How Hospice is Impacted
NHPCO has provided a detailed update here and here on what the recently passed H.R. 3590, the Health Care Reform bill, has in store for hospice. In short, the bill “softens the productivity cuts to hospice from a proposed $10 billion to $7.8 billion.” NHPCO asserts that there is a need for a CMS Administrator to manage [...]
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