CMS selects hospices for Medicare model combining hospice, curative services

More than 140 Medicare-certified hospices will participate in the Medicare Care Choices Model, which will allow eligible Medicare beneficiaries and those dually eligible for Medicaid to receive hospice services while curative services continue, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced today. The model will run from 2016 through 2020, with about half of the hospices starting Jan. 1 and the rest in 2018. CMS will pay the hospices a monthly fee ranging from $200 to $400 per beneficiary, depending on the number of days of service. CMS expects the model to serve up to 150,000 beneficiaries with advanced cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure and HIV who are eligible for the hospice benefit and have not elected it within the past 30 days, among other criteria. Under current payment rules, Medicare and dually eligible beneficiaries must forgo curative care to receive services under the Medicare or Medicaid hospice benefit. The model will evaluate whether eligible beneficiaries would elect to receive both supportive and curative services and the impact on quality of care and patient and family satisfaction.